I Trust You

A friend sent me the link to this video a few days ago, but I didn’t look at it until now. Tears are streaming down my face as I am writing this post. I hope it is as much a gift to you as it was to me.

The Following Morning Addendum:

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When I woke up this morning (I’m in India), I realized I wanted to share this post with my Song Lyric Sunday family. I think the video fits the intent behind this week’s prompt even though it doesn’t fit the structure.

I wasn’t able to find out the name of the background song in part because I can’t understand all of the words. But to me the message is not in the song, it is in the video. I am very disturbed by what is unfolding in our country right now and it was so good for me to watch this video before I went to sleep last night. It allowed me to see light amidst the darkness.

Song Lyric Sunday: War Zone

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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.

Lyrics

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

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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.

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: State of Mind

This morning I took a short walk to the grocery store.  About three blocks from my house I came upon a scene that took me through several states of mind.  Even though all of these photos were taken within a 20 foot segment of the block, my mood ranged from awe to despair.

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Written for Weekly Photo Challenge: State of Mind