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Taken from Youth Radio (October 01, 2000)
Music and Politics
Spearhead's Michael Franti speaks out.
by Nzinga Moore and Anita Johnson
 Spearhead's Michael Franti uses his work as a musician to educate his audience politically. Unsatisfied by the distribution of his music by Island Records and their lack of support for his political and community work, Franti started his own label and now releases Spearhead's music independently.
Youth In Control's Nzinga Moore and Anita Johnson interviewed him about his first vote and his motivations and experiences being a politically active musician.
Youth In Control: Do you remember the first time you voted? Who did you vote for?
Michael: You know, the first time that I was eligible to vote I was on tour and I was in England and I missed the election. I came back, and my first band The Beatniks was a very, very political group and we'd been talking about a lot of political things.
And my dad told me, "You know, it's really arrogant of you to go around talking about political things if you haven't taken the time to vote." And then he went out and he got me this picture. It was a print of the first black vote in America. It was like a drawing of the first black man casting his ballot. And I've had the picture up on my wall ever since.
So, the next vote wasn't a presidential election it was a local election. I don't even remember what all the issues were on the election or who I voted for, but I remember just hearing my father's words in my head. Like how arrogant it is to be criticizing all this political system when you don't participate in it on a voting level. And especially us, like black people, women, people of color, get excluded from the voting process, the fact that our fathers and mothers and grandfathers and grandmothers fought hard and gave up a lot of sacrifice in order to give us the opportunity to vote.
YIC: Was your father the main person who educated you?
Michael: No, my father kept his politics to himself. I wasn't raised by my birth father or my birth mother. I didn't know either of them until later on in life. When I was 22 or 23 I finally met them. So in the family that I was raised in I didn't really feel like I was comfortable growing up, I didn't feel like I fit in with my neighborhood, my family, the whole thing. So I've always had an affinity with the underdog. I've always felt compassion for people who were less fortunate than I was - coming out of that type of situation. So I think that's where most of my political orientation comes from - trying to find a voice for people who traditionally haven't had a voice.
YIC: With age do you see your political stance being more radical?
Michael: I do. It's funny because a lot of people say the opposite, especially older generation people say, "Do you think you're getting more conservative as you get older?" and I say, "No, I'm getting far more radical." Because when I was kid I used to think radical meant dying your hair blue and getting a nose ring or something. I didn't really understand that the world is really superficial compared to the nuts and bolts of the really grassroots issues that really truly affect people's lives on a day to day basis. And I've become more fervent in my fight, for example, against corporate control in this country, especially the prisons and the issues that are drawing this nation apart in terms of money and economics. The poor seem to get poorer and the rich seem to get fewer and fewer and richer and richer.
YIC: Do you feel a responsibility as an artist to your audience members to educate them politically?
Michael: As an artist I feel the responsibility to make good art-to make the best art that I can. But I feel like as human beings, all of us have the responsibility to the seven generations of people who came before us and the seven generations of people to come and that we owe it to them to try and make this world be a livable and sustainable place for the future. And in my art I have made a decision - I don't feel it's my responsibility - but I have made the decision that my aim through my art is trying to enrage, enlighten and inspire. And sometimes I'm able to do one or two, sometimes all three and sometimes I don't do any successfully-but that is always my goal. To enrage enlighten and inspire.
YIC: And what does the name Spearhead mean?
Michael: Spearhead, we took the name for Chief Shaka of the Zulu tribe, who took this long spear that they once threw and broke it in half and made a shorter spear with a bigger spearhead, called the Asuga, and they developed a whole new way of fighting colonialism. So I see this Spearhead as my evolution of trying to stay on the point of the spear and be fighting this battle that we have that we call the struggle. And how do I reshape my tools and relearn new methods of engaging this fight that we're in through my music.
YIC: You being very political and signing onto a record label-did they try to market you, and did they try to market that?
Michael: No, they didn't. And that was something that I always - they would say stuff like, "Your music is too political, it's too intellectual and we gotta just have basic stuff that kids can sing along to." And I was always trying to say to them "Don't underestimate the intelligence of young people, because they are really on the point of what's happening and they know what's up out there." But the labels are really in the business of generating a large margin of profit. They are not really into trying to enlighten and inspire people. They never really would market it as this political music.
YIC: Why do you put local artists like Anita Diassi into your music?
Michael: I don't believe that artists have the responsibility to be political, but I've made a decision to be that way. Like I said, I believe that artists just have to make the best art that they can do, and to be truthful and to be honest in their art. But not everybody can be political, not everybody feels comfortable and some artists are better serving the public just writing songs for people to party to and dance to or serving the love interests in people's hearts or finding other emotions they can pull out. We each have our strengths and weaknesses, so that's why I don't want to put it on everyone that they have to political.
I've made that decision to [be political] and so I try to reach out and find other people who are interested within the community and try to give other people opportunities to do what I've had the chance to do. Because I've learned so much from every time I've spoken out at a rally or in a school or on a street corner or played in a concert or whatever. I've learned so much and it's helped me to develop my craft, because it's not easy to get up on stage and make these dry political issues be exciting. So, that's what you have to try to do.
YIC: How important is it to you to connect with other artists?
Michael: I think it's really important for like-minded-people to get together, whether they're artists or they're regular people in a workplace or whatever. I think it's really important that we have unity. A couple weeks ago I spoke to Leonard Peltian. We were talking about some different actions we could do to get the word out about his situation. And he said to me, "Michael, I really need your help and this is a really crucial time for me. And what I want you guys to do is put on some events and I want you all to do it together. Put aside your petty differences, put an event on together and do it non-violently." And I think those words are really wise. That the world needs our help and we need to do it together and we need to do it non-violently.
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