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Written for The Idavox Report
Welcome to Our First Regular Episode
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Idavox Report on Revolution Radio, here to show you that hate has consequences. This is Daryle Lamont Jenkins’ premier podcast, the first of many regular episodes of The Idavox Report on Revolution Radio. From now on, the podcast will air every Tuesday at 8:00 PM EST. We begin tonight’s show by playing the music video for Stand Up and Fight.
The video is a visual compilation of activism and police violence overlaid with a moving song about never giving up. It ends with a photo roll depicting 47 of the Black lives that were recently lost to police violence in America. Stand Up and Fight was produced by Midnight Transit, a group consisting of our two esteemed guests tonight. Lester and Dylan Chambers are a father and son duo who have been involved in activism for most of their lives. They join us tonight from California to discuss their music, their activism, and the intersection of the two.
Stand Up and Fight
There is a lot to unpack in the Stand Up and Fight music video. You may have noticed if you clicked to watch the video (which we highly recommend!) that you were met with a content warning. Dylan notes that this content warning is interesting because he gathered most of the clips used in the video from major news networks. The videos from which he took the clips never had any content warnings on them.
Dylan expected this type of thing to happen because he knows that racism is so often covered up in this country. The video was only up for two days before it was flagged with the warning. Lester pitches in that it is not often that people are confronted with a whole picture of police brutality but it is crucial that it does happen.
There has been feedback from the general public pushing for Midnight Transit to make more digestible, pop-friendly lyrics. However, Lester and Dylan don’t make their art for the money, so they don’t bow to pressure. They will not compromise their message. Midnight Transit has been around for about 6 years so far and is looking forward to getting back out there for performances as soon as it is safe.
Not Just History
Dylan made sure to learn the stories of all 47 of the victims shown at the end of his music video. He hopes people will remember that behind each of those photos is a valuable human life that had potential, was loved by many, and had its own story. Lester and Dylan share that they consider themselves lucky to be sharing the message of the video. Many of the victims from the video were activists much like Lester and Dylan who were only ever trying to spread a message of social justice.
A lot of people in our country today throw around the word “ancestors” without considering the implications. “Ancestors” implies, but does not technically denote, relatives more than two generations back. The implication is so often inaccurate. Lester personally lived through the Civil Rights Movement. He describes living life as a boy in Mississippi, where his whole family lived in a shack and would get one shared pair of clothes each year.
Real Danger
The KKK would roll through Lester's neighborhood regularly, so his family had to stay armed and guarded through the nights. Since Lester is a living victim, many of those who victimized him are likely still alive as well. People are reluctant to acknowledge that these dangerous people are still around, but that does not change the truth.
One thing that finally made some people wake up and smell the danger was the attack on the United States Capitol on January 6th. The American public has finally acknowledged that violence by right-wing groups is a serious threat. The Black community, meanwhile, has been dealing with it for countless years.
Being A Responsible White Ally
Brian shares that lately he has been learning how to be a better ally to the Black community. He realized that in order to even begin, he needed to let himself learn directly from Black people about the struggles that they face. From there, he could spread that message using his network instead of creating his own message. Being a better ally means letting communities tell their own stories and using your own influence to bolster them.
Dylan reveals a hard fact that he also shares with his white activist friends. People who are racist, whether it be consciously or subconsciously so, seldom learn from people of color. POC are often stereotyped as “too noisy”, “too loud”, “too nasty”, etc. This is why white allies need to accurately reflect the messages that their Black brothers and sisters are trying to spread in their activism. Some white people are only willing to learn from other white people. One of the best ways that you can contribute to the movement as a white ally is to educate those types of people, having made sure that you’ve listened to Black people first.
We Can Make a Difference
Dylan reminds us that the elites of this country don’t want us to focus on them. They want us to focus on the challenge of making ends meet in our day-to-day lives. However, if we at the grassroots were to band together, we could take them down. We saw that people coming together can make a huge difference when Reddit drove up the price of GameStop stocks and screwed over rich Wall Street hedge funds.
Daryle asks what’s next for the Chambers Brothers. Midnight Transit is working on a full-length album, but for now, Stand Up and Fight will be available as a single on all platforms this Friday. Lester and Dylan will also be touring the country with the band Full MoonAlice as The Chambers Brothers. You can find out more as well as see more Chambers Brothers content on the Full MoonAlice website. Lester also has a personal website where you can learn about his career.
Lester cites musician Jimmy Reeds as an inspiration for much of his work, stating that Jimmy’s influence shaped much of music as he was growing up. He also shares that, in his experience, music can soothe like nothing else. Dylan will continue to carry on the Chambers name in his music for years to come. One of Jimmy Reeds’ songs plays as the Chambers Brothers head off for the night. Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of The Idavox Report! We’ll see you next week: same time, same place. Until then, stay safe, and remember — hate has consequences!
-Leah Giannantonio, for Revolution Radio