Civil Wrongs: Rights for the Workers
In the style of "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked"
- for Tim O'Brien and Lenwood Johnson, and all Houston
student and activist groups organizing to end labor abuse
If you have media footage of student groups in action
you would like to contribute to a music video campaign,
please contact Editor Emily Nghiem at itforward@yahoo.com
Click here to view the original APV Campus Plan
that inspired this tribute to the outreach work of
Dr. O'Brien, his students and colleagues.
[Crowd chants] NO JUSTICE!
NO PEACE!
NO JUSTICE!
NO PEACE! NO DUH!
Back in 1995, I was volunteering time
In a Black historic church community
Defending local plans
To build a campus on the land*
To break the cycle of crime and poverty
[*APV Campus Plan]
But the City caved to pressure
From downtown redevelopers
Destroying landmarks on the site
Hijacking public funds
Packing bigger corporate guns
To evict the residents too poor to fight!
Cuz there ain't no rights for the victims
Of lawyers who lie and cheat
When you can't afford
To appeal in Court
While they're committing perjury
They sacrificed
Our Bill of Rights
Due process and consent
And so there ain't no rights for the victims
Of fraud within the government
Ten years later, met a neighbor
Who's exposing sweatshop labor
While he teaches civil rights and history
He fought to stop his school
From signing contracts that abuse
Foreign workers sold to slavery overseas.
When they tried to kick him out
And put his doctorate in doubt,
He sued to complete his PhD.
They wouldn't give his grades
Though his tuition had been paid,
The rising cost of exercising his "free speech"
He said, there ain't no rights for the workers
Exploited by unfair trade
They don't have a choice
We're their only voice
As consumers for a living wage
We've got to fight
For equal rights
Cuz freedom's never free
Or else there won't be rights for the workers
Under corporate slavery
[Crowd chants] No Justice!
No Peace! (No Peace!)
No Justice! No Peace!
No Justice! No Joke!
Putting two and two together
I said, can't we find a better way
To take these civil wrongs and make them right?
Can we expand our campus plans
And demand a second chance
To restore democracy that was denied*
[*Democracy Denied by Lenwood Johnson]
Turning factories into schools
We could end global abuse
With safer jobs and housing on the site
No workers would be sold
If they're legally enrolled
On a campus to protect their equal rights
Can we fight for the rights of the workers
Quit buying into slavery
Give the kids a place
Where they can learn and play
Instead of living in a factory
Replace sweatshops
With student jobs
Turn prisons into schools
Can we stand for the rights of the workers
Against corporate abuse
Can't we fight for the rights of the workers
Exploited by unfair trade
They don't have a choice
We're their only voice
As consumers for a living wage
Without fair trade
How can we save
Our own economy
Unless we fight for the rights of the workers
And stop global slavery
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