Montgomery County Teenager Receiving National Attention For Song Aimed At Healing Country's Racial Divide
ELKINS PARK, Pa. (CBS) -- A teenager from Elkins Park is getting accolades and national attention for her original song that she hopes will help heal the country's racial divide. Angelina Mack, 15, is surprisingly shy, despite having the soulful voice of a performer well beyond her years.
"I get really nervous when I'm singing in front of other people," she said.
She put her nerves aside to record "Stop A Fight," a song she wrote to encourage people to stand up to racial injustice.
"The whole message was, that I can stop the fight, stop this whole fight between law enforcement and all these racial issues," she said. "I was saying that I could use my privilege to step in between and help find a bridge between them and help build a bridge between them."
Angelina comes from a multiracial family, with Japanese, European, African American and Afro-Caribbean ancestry.
She dedicated the song to her father and brother, who she says as African American men face treatment she will never have to endure.
"It's beautiful and I'm so happy that she did this for me, just because she thought about me and my dad, the way we have to live compared to the way she does," said Angelina's brother Miles.
Cristiana Mack says her daughter had that awareness at a young age.
"She was eight and Trayvon Martin happened and she had nightmares," Cristiana Mack said. "She couldn't sleep for three months because in her mind, something would happen to her dad or her brother."
Angelina's father, Al Mack, a jazz musician, produced the track.
"It puts water in my eyes when I think of it too long, because I couldn't be more proud for her and of her," he said.
Angelina's message is resonating with people, inspiring a stranger to make a music video for the song. The video has been viewed more than 16,000 times on YouTube.
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