A friend sent me this video this morning. It is SO powerful. I’ve heard the song sung by Cynthia Erivo many times and get chills every time I listen to it. The kids who are singing in this video do an excellent job and the added video clips add another level of power.
Tag: black lives matter
Dale Hansen Unplugged
I just heard this sportscaster’s three minute talk about the anthem protests. (Hansen Unplugged: Anthem protests not about disrespecting the flag) I am impressed. The best words to capture my response are “Wow” and “Thank You”.
Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around
I just watched this video on my friend Kathie’s blog Chosen Perspectives. It is what I needed to hear right now. I thought that might be true for others too so decided to share it on my own blog.
In posting the video above, I saw and listened to the one below, so am posting it too.
May we remember where we came from and always move forward, even when it seems impossible. May we treat all people in the world as if they are our brothers and sisters, because they are.
Song Lyric Sunday: War Zone
Each week on Song Lyric Sunday, Helen tells us that it is fine to choose a song that has nothing to do with the prompt’s weekly theme. I’m taking advantage of that option this week so that I can present a song that addresses current events.
T.I., a rapper from Atlanta, Georgia, recently released a music video that shows “the reality that this country is living in.” T.I. remarked that he wanted the content to be “powerful enough to create the type of dialogue necessary to inspire some form of change.” The video is definitely not easy viewing but it is thought provoking and makes the point in an unexpected way. I believe it is well worth watching.
May the violence end soon.
Can’t you see we livin’ in a war zone?
Guess you don’t notice when you livin’ in it
Like every weekend it’s a man down
Ain’t got no pity for the innocent so I’ma represent it
Dedicated, tell ’em,
“Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe”
Hands up, can’t you see we livin’ in a war zone?They left his body swangin’ down in Piedmont
At a Klan rally the day before, but that ain’t mean nothing
Witness said suicide, I said genocide
Hey what you got a gun for? Boy you ain’t finna ride
They run up on you like Baton Rouge, bet you finna hide
That’s the difference ‘tween us, I’ll die to save a million lives
Appointed leader when nobody couldn’t think of shit
I’ll be a martyr if my great grandaughter benefit
They pull you over, ask you where your license at
Be careful reachin’ for it, you know you can die for that
And this ain’t nothin’ new, just got cameras so you can see the shit
Got Dr. King and Abe Lincoln askin’ where the freedom at
This ain’t no equality
Man you ain’t have no justice on your mind when you shot at me
But fuck it, this the way it gotta be
Hey listen, you won’t shoot at them then shoot at me?
Boy you are not a G
Imagine Trayvon askin’ why you followed me
Feel threatened, hit him and whip him, that’s when he shot him down
Do that to a grown fuckin’ man, drop where you stand
Tell my grandma go on with all that prayin’
If it’s a God and he in the sky, he looking down, he understand
I’m just a man, and I’m wrong for revenge
But I don’t get ’em it’s like tellin’ him to gon’ kill again
Keep fucking around, it’s going to be on in a minuteBoy we livin’ in a war zone
Guess you don’t notice when you livin’ in it
Like every weekend it’s a man down
Ain’t got no pity for the innocent so I’ma represent it
Dedicated, tell ’em,
“Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe”
Hands up, can’t you see we livin’ in a war zone?
Guess you don’t notice when you livin’ in it
Like every weekend it’s a man down
Ain’t got no pity for the innocent so I’ma represent it
Dedicated, tell ’em,
“Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe”
Hands up, can’t you see we livin’ in a war zone?They left his body swangin’ down in Piedmont
At a Klan rally the day before, but that ain’t mean nothing
Witness said suicide, I said genocide
Hey what you got a gun for? Boy you ain’t finna ride
They run up on you like Baton Rouge, bet you finna hide
That’s the difference ‘tween us, I’ll die to save a million lives
Appointed leader when nobody couldn’t think of shit
I’ll be a martyr if my great grandaughter benefit
They pull you over, ask you where your license at
Be careful reachin’ for it, you know you can die for that
And this ain’t nothin’ new, just got cameras so you can see the shit
Got Dr. King and Abe Lincoln askin’ where the freedom at
This ain’t no equality
Man you ain’t have no justice on your mind when you shot at me
But fuck it, this the way it gotta be
Hey listen, you won’t shoot at them then shoot at me?
Boy you are not a G
Imagine Trayvon askin’ why you followed me
Feel threatened, hit him and whip him, that’s when he shot him down
Do that to a grown fuckin’ man, drop where you stand
Tell my grandma go on with all that prayin’
If it’s a God and he in the sky, he looking down, he understand
I’m just a man, and I’m wrong for revenge
But I don’t get ’em it’s like tellin’ him to gon’ kill again
Keep fucking around, it’s going to be on in a minuteBoy we livin’ in a war zone
Guess you don’t notice when you livin’ in it
Like every weekend it’s a man down
Ain’t got no pity for the innocent so I’ma represent it
Dedicated, tell ’em,
“Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe”
Hands up, can’t you see we livin’ in a war zone?
This goes to the white boy that ran in the old church
I hope you get slow murked, and they torture you slow first
Ran in our place of worship to slaughter our grandma
Won’t go kamikaze for that, well what would you die for?
Hold up… I’ll wait, I’ll wait
Heard it from buddy who took for the fall for Watergate
The war on drugs was just a war on us
Give us all these guns, give us all this dust
Change all them laws, lock all of us up
Went from Freeway Ricky, on to BMF (free Meech)
Then hip hop came, that’s when we got rich
Cause white kids gravitated to it like all of us did
And that’s when they got slick
Invented the technology to take our shit
Diluted all of the artistry
Pardon me, somebody tell me what happened to Alton
Sterling, killed Philando right in front of the girl
And the world saw
Everybody’s reaction was, “Hell naw”
This modern day slavery, the prison publicly traded
And the jig’s up
The Constitution and Emancipation Proclamation’s just a fuckin’ piece of paper
Can’t you see we livin’ in a war zone?
Guess you don’t notice when you livin’ in it
Like every weekend it’s a man down
Ain’t got no pity for the innocent so I’ma represent it
Dedicated, tell ’em,
“Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe”
Hands up, can’t you see we livin’ in a war zone?
We Shall Overcome
Ever since I learned about Song Lyric Sunday, songs from my past have been going through my mind. My 67 years of life has had so many phases and the music that is dear to me reflects all the different paths I have walked.
As I contemplated what song to use this week, I realized I wanted it to relate both to my life in the past and the present. What song could do that better than Pete Seeger’s version of We Shall Overcome. As I read the words and listened to the video I chose to accompany it, I began to cry.
There were so many levels to my tears. I grew up during the struggle for civil rights and in a lot of ways that movement created the me I am today. As I looked at the photographs that are on the video below, my mind flooded with my own memories. Some of my tears were from remembering what this country was like before the push for civil rights, and feeling touched by how far we have come.
At the same time, the events of this past week (and many weeks/months/years before it) make it evident that we still have a long way to go. Therefore, another part of my tears were due to despair arising from the recent killings in Baton Rouge, Falcon Heights and Dallas and the overwhelm of not knowing if, when or how we will make the violence stop. When will we (humans) learn to live with love and respect for all beings?
No one knows for sure who wrote We Shall Overcome. There is some new evidence that it may have originally been a gospel hymn composed between 1932 and 1942. The lyrics have changed over the years. The song as I know it became associated with the Civil Rights movement in 1959 and was soon considered its unofficial anthem. (Wikipedia)
We Shall Overcome Lyrics
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
I do believe
We shall overcome, some day.
We’ll walk hand in hand,
We’ll walk hand in hand,
We’ll walk hand in hand, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart…
We shall live in peace,
We shall live in peace,
We shall live in peace, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart…
The whole wide world around,
The whole wide world around,
The whole wide world around, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart…
We are not afraid,
We are not afraid,
We are not afraid, TODAY.
Oh, deep in my heart…
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
I do believe,
We shall overcome, some day.
While my faith is a bit shaken right now, as I listen to the music, I know that this is my truth.
Oh, deep in my heart,
I, Karuna, do believe
We shall overcome, some day.
Driving Out Darkness
Murshed Zaheed, from CREDO Action <act@credoaction.com> just wrote CREDO members and said:
“We are simply reeling.
The killings by police this week of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, and the mass shooting in Dallas that killed five police officers, shine a harsh light on the way that white supremacy, systemic racism, and a culture of gun ownership driven by fear and hate puts the lives of far too many Americans, especially Black Americans, at risk.
There is much to be said in the wake of these tragedies: That Black Lives Matter. That the fight for justice has too often been littered with unnecessary violence. That too many are living in fear.
We have much work to do. At the end of a week where the world feels dark, we are thinking of the message of Martin Luther King, Jr. It is love that calls us to resist hate, racism, and violence. It is love that calls us to imagine a better world, and to fight for it. It is only love that can drive out hate.”
Murshed asked that we send out this message/picture through Facebook and Twitter. It is a message I also believe in. Since I don’t participate in Facebook, I am choosing to post it here.
Living, Learning and Letting Go 