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" Collectively, we activists are essential to advancing U.S. policy to help empower marginalized people to lift themselves and their communities out of poverty for good. "
Michael Franti
Help
Good
Poverty
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" It's a really personal thing for me to write a song. "
Michael Franti
Personal
Write
Thing
" Music was a central part of my childhood because my mother played organ and piano in the church, and that meant all us kids had to be in the church choir. "
Michael Franti
Mother
Music
Piano
" We have a saying in my house, my kids and my girlfriend. We say, 'Be your best for the greater good, and rock out wherever you are.' "
Michael Franti
Say
Best
You
" I took a trip in 2004, a year after the war started in Iraq. I played music on the streets of Baghdad for Iraqi civilians. I'd also play for U.S. soldiers at night when they were off duty in the bars. Then I would talk to people, and I would film them and ask them about their life and the conflict. "
Michael Franti
Play
War
Music
" Music is sunshine. Like sunshine, music is a powerful force that can instantly and almost chemically change your entire mood. Music gives us new energy and a stronger sense of purpose. "
Michael Franti
Sunshine
Powerful
Music
" I came up playing in both punk rock bands and hip-hop bands, and I found a more universal way of reaching people, especially with music that has a message to it. "
Michael Franti
Way
Hip-Hop
Rock
" My parents said sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you. But I always felt a sense of exhilaration after a fight; it was the names that really hurt me. "
Michael Franti
Said
You
Hurt
" I really believe that, as an artist, my opportunity to help to bring about awakening is one that should come from a personal process that someone has, and not from me telling somebody that this is the way it is. "
Michael Franti
Help
Believe
Me
" Power to the peaceful! "
Michael Franti
Peaceful
Power
Peace
" Investing now in safe-guarding people by helping them to adapt to climate change, will help save money and lives while building resilience. "
Michael Franti
Money
Help
Change
" We can bomb the world to pieces, but we can't bomb it into peace. "
Michael Franti
Pieces
Bomb
World
" I'm not an idealist. I know we're not going to be living in a world that's peace and love all the time. But we can live in a world where we kill each other a lot less. "
Michael Franti
Know
Love
Peace
" Everybody's opinion is equally valid, and I feel like everybody should have an opportunity to speak out, and everyone should have the courage to speak out. "
Michael Franti
Opportunity
Courage
Speak
" Every single soul is a poem. "
Michael Franti
Poem
Poetry
Single
" All my songs are different, but from the overall experience, I want people to sense that they can overcome and move through difficult times and find strength in my music. Maybe it's a song that makes them cry and move through something else. "
Michael Franti
Cry
People
Experience
" In the '80s, Ronald Reagan inspired me to become politicized, because I grew up in that era when everything I cared about was under attack. "
Michael Franti
Inspired
Become
Attack
" If we do not change our negative habits toward climate change, we can count on worldwide disruptions in food production, resulting in mass migration, refugee crises and increased conflict over scarce natural resources like water and farm land. This is a recipe for major security problems. "
Michael Franti
Change
Conflict
Problems
" My greatest sense of accomplishment has come from having two amazing sons, but it's also a paradox in that the times when I felt like the biggest failure have been times when I felt like, as a parent, I wasn't making the right decisions or succeeding in the way that I should. "
Michael Franti
Parent
Failure
Amazing
" I drive a hybrid. It's a Ford Escape. That's my only car. "
Michael Franti
Escape
Hybrid
Ford
" Jamaica's a country of great dichotomy. On the one hand you have a tourist industry with great beaches and resorts, but on the other you have such great poverty and the violence that goes along with that. "
Michael Franti
Poverty
Violence
You
" The world can't have a global solution to climate change with U.S. action alone; and the world can't have a global solution without U.S. action. "
Michael Franti
Action
Solution
Change
" The music industry has been hijacked by corporate interests, but the way music affects people and resonates with them hasn't changed. "
Michael Franti
Way
Been
Music
" I'd play music on the street, especially in developing nations where a lot of kids couldn't wear shoes. In order to relate with kids that would be following me barefoot, I would take off my shoes, and they would all laugh at me because I couldn't go three steps without wincing. "
Michael Franti
Street
Laugh
Me
" I really encourage people to travel so we can see how the rest of the world views our country. That's really important. Secondly, as artists, activists, and citizens who vote, we have to begin to vote from our heart. "
Michael Franti
Rest
World
People
" I went to the University of San Francisco on an athletic scholarship. I didn't study in high school. I was just there to get by and to play basketball. But a funny thing happened to me when I got to college. I got challenged by the work and the professors. "
Michael Franti
College
Me
Play
" My mother, she made sure all of us were treated the same and had the same opportunity to grow and develop, so that when we left the house, we could fly on our own. And she also knew when we got out into the world, we'd treat others that we came across with that same treatment and respect. "
Michael Franti
Fly
Opportunity
Respect
" In Jamaica, the music is recorded for the sound system, not the iPod. It's about experiencing music together, with other people. "
Michael Franti
System
Sound
Together
" People worry that gas prices are high and how they are affecting their pocket book. But they want to know about renewable energy. People are really starting to question things, and that's made people look to the future in a positive way. "
Michael Franti
Positive
People
Future
" My favorite band of all time is The Clash. The thing I love about The Clash is they started out as guys who could barely play three chords. They dabbled in reggae, punk, rap, jazz. They came to a sound that could only be defined as The Clash. It was impossible to say what it was. I admire them for that. "
Michael Franti
Band
Impossible
Jazz
" The corporate media is there to push the agenda of the sponsors, and many of those sponsors are weapons manufacturers. So it stands to reason that you won't get a diversity of opinions on television. "
Michael Franti
Diversity
Media
Opinions