Sunday, August 9, 2015

"ALL Lives Matter" is the New "Go Slow"

Black Lives Matter is today's version of the same damn civil rights message some of us have been working to advance for the last fifty years. And those who respond by saying ALL lives matter are today's version of the same old Go slow response we got fifty years ago.
Nina Simone's "Mississippi Goddam" is just as true and powerful today as it was when she sang it years ago.  Here it is again for those who might not know what I'm talking about. Listen for the following lyrics as she says them...
Don't tell me, I'll tell you
Me and my people just about due
I've been there so I know
They keep on saying, "Go slow!" 
But that's just the trouble, go slow
Washing the windows, go slow
Picking the cotton, go slow
You're just plain rotten, go slow 
You're too damn lazy, go slow
The thinking's crazy, go slow
Where am I going? What am I doing?
I don't know, I don't know
~~~~~ 
Oh, but this whole country is full of lies
You're all gonna die and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on saying, "Go slow! Go slow!" 
Reunification, go slow
Do things gradually, go slow
But bring more tragedy, go slow
Why don't you see it? 
Why don't you feel it?
I don't know, I don't know
But that's just the trouble, go slow
Desegregation, do it slow Mass participation, go slow

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