Leadbelly - The Scottsboro Boys
Stay Woke or Get Fucked: the Truth White Folks Don't Like
Alabama in 1931. Hot, mean, and full of white people with itchy trigger fingers. Nine Black kids just trying to ride a train end up in the wrong place at the wrong time — same old story. Some white women scream rape, and suddenly these kids are front-page news, getting sentenced to die before they even get a chance to lie about their age. You know how fast white folks move when they got a Black kid to burn? They put the Scottsboro Boys on trial so quick the judge was probably signing death warrants before the bailiff even called court to order.
Scottsboro Boys on the Howard Zinn Project
That’s where Leadbelly steps in. A man who knew what it meant to be Black in America because he lived it, bled for it, and spent enough time behind bars to know the deal. He took his guitar, tuned that motherfucker up, and told the world exactly what went down in Scottsboro Boys.
Tell me, tell me, tell me, do you really mean, that nine boys in jail without a crime or scheme?
-Leadbelly, Scottsboro Boys
No crime. No scheme. Just white people being white people. And if you’re Black in America, you better understand that shit early. That’s what Leadbelly was saying. He wasn’t singing the news — he was sending a goddamn warning. You better stay awake. You better stay sharp. You better stay woke, because the second you close your eyes, this country will bury you alive.
See, back then, being woke wasn’t about looking smart on Twitter or writing think pieces about vegan milk alternatives. It was about not getting lynched. It meant knowing that every cop, every judge, every jury was already against you before you opened your mouth. It meant knowing that even if you never touched a white woman in your life, they could still drag you out of bed and string you up just because some scared little girl pointed in your direction.
That’s why Leadbelly sang it loud. “I’m gonna tell everybody in the wide, wide world, about those nine boys in Scottsboro.” And he did, too. He took that song everywhere. But let me ask you something—how many white people actually listened? Not the kind that collect blues records and pretend they got soul. I mean the kind that could have done something. You already know the answer.
Ninety years, and look at this shit now. “Woke” used to mean knowing the system was rigged, knowing that the world didn’t love you back, and surviving anyway. Now, white folks have turned it into some bullshit insult, like giving a fuck is a bad thing. They’ve twisted it up so bad that the same people who would have cheered for those Scottsboro Boys getting fried in the electric chair are now out here whining about how wokeness is ruining their goddamn sitcoms.
But let’s be real — white people don’t hate wokeness. They hate that they can’t ignore the truth anymore. They hate that Black folks, and brown folks, and poor folks of every color aren’t shutting the fuck up and letting them enjoy their lies in peace. They hate that we’re still singing Scottsboro Boys, that Leadbelly’s voice is still out there reminding us that if you ever stop paying attention, the system will eat you alive.
So let’s get one thing straight. Woke ain’t a dirty word. It ain’t a trend. It’s survival. It’s knowing that America has never been fair and never will be unless we make it that way. It’s knowing that if those nine kids were alive today, they wouldn’t be in electric chairs — they’d be getting choked out by cops on body cam footage while half the country makes excuses.
Leadbelly knew it. The Scottsboro Boys knew it. And if you don’t know it by now, then congratulations — you’re exactly what this country wants you to be. Asleep.