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ON EDIT - This is from the production of "Hair". I think it's important
that people remember that blacks still suffer the same discrimination as
50 years ago. Things haven't changed that much. I still hear and read
these slurs. Working in Texas high schools I see it with the kids.
That says that someone at home does the same thing. I guess I should
have explained that in the beginning. It is offensive, but it proves we
still live in offensive times. Trayvon Martin. Islan Nettles murdered
just two weeks ago in front of a police station. The list goes on.
Many you'll never hear about.
Martin Luther King said, "Determined to be free in '63". But did it ever happen?
I'm a Colored spade A nigger A black nigger A jungle bunny Jigaboo coon Pickaninny mau mau Uncle Tom Aunt Jemima Little Black Sambo Cotton pickin' Swamp guinea Junk man Shoeshine boy Elevator operator Table cleaner at Horn & Hardart Slave voodoo Zombie Ubangi lipped Flat nose Tap dancin' Resident of Harlem And president of The United States of Love I said President of The United States of Love
(and for dinner at the White House you're going to feed him:)
Watermelon Hominy grits An' shortnin' bread Alligator ribs Some pig tails Some black eyed pea Some chili
Some collard greens And if you don't watch out This boogie man will get you Booooooooo!
So you say.
I remember the riots of 1968, military jeeps roaming the streets of Kansas City. We were walking home from the Country Club Plaza and a 60s Impala with three black men was stopped by the military and the police. They pulled them out, threw them up against the car, spread their legs, hit them over the head with billy clubs. We started to run. Got home and my mom said there was a curfew and to stay on the porch. My friends had to call their parents to say they were at our house.
We had never seen anything like this. Two days later, Mike Bernal a grade school friend, was killed during a riot in school. We lined up on the church steps for his funeral. I didn't understand much then.
And I'm not so sure I understand a whole lot more now....
ReplyDeleteWhat is that crap - Texas talk?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRick, that is from the production of "Hair". I think it's important that people remember that blacks still suffer the same discrimination as 50 years ago. Things haven't changed that much. I still hear and read these slurs. Working in Texas high schools I see it with the kids. That says that someone at home does the same thing. I guess I should have explained that in the beginning. It is offensive, but it proves we still live in offensive times. Trayvon Martin, Islan Nettles murdered just two weeks ago in front of a police station. The list goes on. Many you'll never hear about.
ReplyDeleteOK, makes sense now! I remember back in the early 70's, dancing around the living room to "Hair" but never really listened to the words.
ReplyDeleteYes, you are right. The senseless killings we hear about are only a small fraction of the ones we don't and far too many of them are among transgender kids whose only "crime" was being born with the wrong body.