We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

The Trip (Radio Edit)

from The Trip by Moonstarr & Etan Thomas

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 CAD  or more

     

about

**** All proceeds to Etan Thomas Foundation www.etanthomas.com and Black Food Toronto www.blackfoodtoronto.com ****

In September 2005, then Washington Wizards NBA player Etan Thomas gave a speech at a rally in Washington DC that slammed the Bush administration and spoke out against the systemic racism and problems facing the Black community and racialized communities in the US. In the speech, Etan takes Republicans and conservatives on a “field trip” to show them the many issues faced by these communities: lack of educational resources, substandard health care, lack of economic opportunities, police brutality, the impact of unnecessary wars and voter disenfranchisement.

Many of these problems are not only specific to America - they are faced by racialized and Black communities around the world. In 2010 Moonstarr revisited the speech and was inspired by Etan’s words to produce a track, but the song was never released.

Fast forward to 2020. Etan’s speech is as relevant now as it was back in 2005. The current US administration and hateful rhetoric spewed from Donald Trump, and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement globally, has crystallized Etan’s message. Moonstarr and Public Transit Recordings felt now was the right time to put this song out to share Etan’s powerful message and spread it widely as possible as “The Trip”.

All proceeds from the sale of “The Trip'' will benefit two organizations: The Etan Thomas Foundation www.etanthomas.com which helps youth achieve their potential and the Black Food Toronto www.blackfoodtoronto.com which champions food justice within Toronto’s African, Caribbean and Black communities.

Public Transit Recordings has already made a donation to support these great causes and will match sales of “The Trip” up to $500 to further support these organizations.

We hope you listen to Etan’s speech and reflect on his message on how we as a collective can eradicate systemic racism in all facets of our society. Below is a copy of Etan’s speech. Please spread the word. Big thanks to Etan Thomas for allowing us to use his inspirational words.

lyrics

ETAN THOMAS: Giving all honor, thanks and praises to God for courage and wisdom, this is a very important rally. I’d like to thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts, feelings and concerns regarding a tremendous problem that we are currently facing. This problem is universal, transcending race, economic background, religion, and culture, and this problem is none other than the current administration which has set up shop in the White House.

In fact, I’d like to take some of these cats on a field trip. I want to get big yellow buses with no air conditioner, and no seatbelts, and round up Bill O’Reilly, Pat Buchanan, Trent Lott, Sean Hannity, Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, Bush Jr. and Bush Sr., John Ashcroft, Giuliani, Ed Gillespie, Katherine Harris, that little bow-tied Tucker Carlson, and any other right-wing conservative Republicans I can think of, and take them all on a trip to the ’hood.

Not to do no 30-minute documentary. I mean, I want to drop them off and leave them there, let them become one with the other side of the tracks, get them four mouths to feed and no welfare, have scare tactics run through them like a laxative, criticizing them for needing assistance. I’d show them working families that make too much to receive welfare, but not enough to make ends meet. I’d employ them with jobs with little security, let them know how it feels to be an employee at will, able to be fired at the drop of a hat. I’d take away their opportunities, then try their children as adults, sending their 13-year-old babies to life in prison.

I’d sell them dreams of hopelessness while spoon-feeding their young with a daily dose of inferior education. I’d tell them no child shall be left behind, then take more money out of their schools, tell them to show and prove themselves on standardized exams testing their knowledge on things that they haven’t been taught, and then I’d call them inferior.

I’d soak into their interior notions of endless possibilities. I’d paint pictures of assisted productivity if they only agreed to be all they can be, dress them up with fatigues and boots with promises of pots of gold at the end of rainbows, free education to waste terrain on those who finish their bid.

Then I’d close the lid on that barrel of fool’s gold by starting a war, sending their children into the midst of a hostile situation, and while they’re worried about their babies being murdered and slain in foreign lands, I’d grace them with the pain of being sick and unable to get medicine.

Give them health benefits that barely cover the common cold. John Q. would become their reality as HMOs introduce them to the world of inferior care, filling their lungs with inadequate air, penny-pinching at the expense of patients, doctors practicing medicine in an intricate web of rationing and regulations.

Patients wander the maze of managed bureaucracy, costs rise and quality quickly deteriorates, but they say that managed care is cheaper. They’ll say that free choice in medicine will defeat the overall productivity, and as co-payments are steadily rising, I’ll make their grandparents have to choose between buying their medicine and paying their rent.

Then I’d feed them hypocritical lines of being pro-life as the only Christian way to be. Then very contradictingly, I’d fight for the spread of the death penalty, as if thou shall not kill applies to babies but not to criminals.

Then I’d introduce them to those sworn to protect and serve, creating a curb in their trust in the law. I’d show them the nightsticks and plungers, the pepper spray and stun guns, the mace and magnums that they’d soon become acquainted with, the shakedowns and illegal search and seizures, the planted evidence, being stopped for no reason. Harassment ain’t even the half of it. Forty-one shots to two raised hands, cell phones and wallets that are confused with illegal contrabands. I’d introduce them to pigs who love making their guns click like wine glasses. Everlasting targets surrounded by bullets, making them a walking bull’s eye, a living piñata, held at the mercy of police brutality, and then we’ll see if they finally weren’t aware of the truth, if their eyes weren’t finally open like a box of Pandora.

I’d show them how the other side of the tracks carries the weight of the world on our shoulders and how society seems to be holding us down with the force of a boulder. The bird of democracy flew the coop back in Florida.

See, for some, and justice comes in packs like wolves in sheep’s clothing. T.K.O.d by the right hooks of life, many are left staggering under the weight of the day, leaning against the ropes of hope. When your dreams have fallen on barren ground, it becomes difficult to keep pushing yourself forward like a train, administering pain like a doctor with a needle, their sequels continue more lethal than injections.They keep telling us all is equal. I’d tell them that instead of giving tax breaks to the rich, financing corporate mergers and leading us into unnecessary wars and under-table dealings with Enron and Halliburton, maybe they can work on making society more peaceful.

Instead, they take more and more money out of inner city schools, give up on the idea of rehabilitation and build more prisons for poor people. With unemployment continuing to rise like a deficit, it’s no wonder why so many think that crime pays.

Maybe this trip will make them see the error of their ways. Or maybe next time, we’ll just all get out and vote. And as far as their stay in the White House, tell them that numbered are their days.

credits

from The Trip, released October 27, 2020
Moonstarr feat. Etan Thomas “The Trip” (K.Moon, E.Thomas) (c)(p) 2020 Public Transit Recordings Inc./ Etan Thomas. Production by Moonstarr. Lyrics by Etan Thomas www.etanthomas.com

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Moonstarr Montreal, Québec

This man lights fires on nuff dancefloors around the planet with his interpretations of broken soul, techno, and hip hop. Broken drum loops, heavy synth action, and thick basslines are soaked into every crevice of his music. Keep your neckbrace at the ready... ... more

contact / help

Contact Moonstarr

Streaming and
Download help

Report this track or account

If you like Moonstarr, you may also like: