This is a video I put together in memory of the victims of the
Emanuel AME Church massacre, and the victims of many, many previous hate crimes. [revised version of the original I posted on YouTube in June
2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ1MhWGKWQ4 ]
I think this is the one recording I really didn’t like making. It took me a couple tries to get through it without crying, and compiling the information for it and seeing just how many hate crimes there have been, how horrible they were, and how they’re still going on was truly heartbreaking (even though I was – for the most part – already aware of them).
My thoughts are with the families of
Clementa Pinckney,
Myra Thompson, Tywanza Sanders, Sharonda Singleton,
Ethel Lance,
Susie Jackson,
Daniel Simmons, Sr.,
Cynthia Hurd, and DePayne Middleton-Doctor this week as the funerals continue.
"
Birmingham Sunday" by
Richard Farina
Lyrics:
Come round by my side and
I'll sing you a song.
I'll sing it so softly, it'll do no one wrong.
On Birmingham Sunday the blood ran like wine,
And the choir kept singing of
Freedom.
That cold autumn morning no eyes saw the sun,
And
Addie Mae Collins, her number was one.
In an old
Baptist church there was no need to run.
And the choir kept singing of Freedom,
The clouds they were dark and the autumn wind blew,
And
Denise McNair brought the number to two.
The falcon of death was a creature they knew,
And the choir kept singing of Freedom,
The church it was crowded, and no one could see
That
Cynthia Wesley's dark number was three.
Her prayers and her feelings would shame you and me.
And the choir kept singing of Freedom.
Young Carol Robertson entered the door
And the number her killers had given was four.
She asked for a blessing but asked for no more,
And the choir kept singing of Freedom.
On Birmingham Sunday a noise shook the ground.
And people all over the earth turned around.
For no one recalled a more cowardly sound.
And the choir kept singing of Freedom.
The men in the forest they once asked of me,
How many black berries grew in the
Blue Sea.
I asked them right back with a tear in my eye.
How many dark ships in the forest?
A Sunday has come a Sunday has gone.
And I can't do much more than to sing you a song.
I'll sing it so softly, it'll do no one wrong.
And the choir keeps singing of Freedom.
- published: 25 Mar 2016
- views: 26