‘Boots on the Ground, Where Them Fans At?’

By Dr. Flonzie Brown Wright

JA Guest Writer

In every generation, a song or a slogan or a slang comes along that becomes more like a Cultural Anthem. I am a proverbial lover of myriad genres of music. Being a musician/organist/arranger/singer/recording artist for almost 70 years, I am always enthralled when something new catches my attention, whether it’s gospel, classical, blues, a love ballad, traditional, transposition, hymns, or freedom songs, I am supportive of artists who can take lyrics and make them come alive through the gift of heartfelt music.

For the past several months, the rendition of “Boots on the Ground – Where Them Fans At?” has taken different cultures by storm, me included.

1. Let me share some historical context. I’m sure I am “preaching to the choir”, but allow me. Historically and traditionally, this familiar term was a recent addition to English, gaining traction during the Vietnam War in 1955 and resurging during the wars in Iraq in March 2003 and Afghanistan in October 2001. It refers to active ground troops in a military campaign, physically present and fighting in a war zone.

2. Back in the day during the Civil Rights Movement, the definition was expanded to take on a different connotation. It became more and more familiar in relation to a call to action to march to the courthouses to try and register and vote as well as a call for unity to other communities that help was needed. As an example, when a community called for help on a given day to march or to protest racism, selective buying campaigns, discrimination in obtaining the right to not only register, but to vote, the call was sent to that community that we needed – “Boots on the Ground.” Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall, all they had to do was call and we would be there. Whether it was in Meridian, Vicksburg, Canton, Carthage, Port Gibson, Fayette, Biloxi, Natchez, Alabama, Georgia, we borrowed cars, rented buses to go because our fellow activists needed help. “Where Them Fans At” is more than a catch phrase, it has a certain kind of cadence that brings out our inherent ability to be able to move to the rhythm. We also used fans…old church fans, fans from the local funeral homes, fans from the “dime” store, to keep us cool as we marched in 100-degree weather. 

3. As I look at the landscape of America today and how rapidly the national political machine is putting into place laws, unqualified heads of departments, Executive Orders to roll back many of the gains that we have struggled all our lives to gain, I worry that if we don’t put those “Boots on the Ground”, we will witness in our generation, up close and personal, more accelerated poverty, soup lines, blatant denial of health care, and much more to come that we can’t even conceptualize. 

As we witness the dehumanization of tearing families apart; food rotting in warehouses; mass job loss; a critical lack and loss of health care; erratic decisions; open season on snatching men, women, boys, and girls who have been in this country for years; a lack of decency in this administration, I am very troubled. 

How willing are we to put our “Boots on the Ground” to recommit to going to the polls and voting in every election? It was in my lifetime that I could NOT vote. A few months ago, I heard a report that over 8 million African Americans did not vote in 2024. How can that be? Did we forget so soon that in many of our lifetimes, many in MY generation, were killed for trying to get the right to vote? How can we forget the lynchings, the bombings, the burnings, the shootings, the assassinations, the jailings, the beatings, and many other atrocities that our people faced?

I cannot count the calls that I have had since November 2024, asking me… “Ms. Flonzie, what happened?” Not that I am an expert, my answer was and still is a simple one. First, stop crying…and remember we were warned of all the things that could happen. Having said that, we are witnessing …promises made… promises being kept. Now what?

Please allow me to encourage the readers who may have lost hope to remember the struggle and sufferings of Wharlest Jackson, George Metcalfe, Vernon Dahmer, George Raymond, Armelia Boynton, John Lewis, the four little girls in Birmingham, Viola Liuzzo, the Rev. James Reed, Dr. M.L. King, Medgar Evers, Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney, Emmett Till, and thousands more and lace up those boots and march to the polls. And oh yes, don’t forget them fans, it’s hot out here, in more ways than one. You will need them.

Just a Flonzie thought.