"Strange Fruit" (and a 75th anniversary commentary) for the Lynching Memorial (trigger warning)

[niyad]

Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is fruit for the crows to pluck
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop

Strange Fruit - the story behind "The Song of the Century"

Nina Simone: Strange Fruit

The story behind “Strange Fruit,” the most haunting song about race in America

[ancianita]

1. Thank you. This is one part of America's history that must stay in the light in order to heal her.

[malthaussen]

2. Didn't you post a while back an article...

... linking "Strange Fruit" to Billie Holliday's death? It's definitely a song the White Supremacists don't want us to remember.

-- Mal

[niyad]

3. I don't remember that, but I looked it up, and posted just now:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210547526

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. Thank you for posting that there and linking here. Horrific. . . . nt

[niyad]

7. you are most welcome. horrific indeed.

[mountain grammy]

4. Wonderful post

That’s some history lesson. My mom was born and raised in Brooklyn. In the thirties she used to go hear Billie Holiday sing and she had several records. I grew up listening to Billie and that song. When Billie died in 1959 mom said, our government killed her.

Johann Hari’s book, Chasing the Scream, devotes a chapter to Billie Holiday. Our government did kill her.

I was writing this as you were writing yours. Quite a story. Hari tells it well.

[niyad]

8. sdly, your mom was absolutely correct. I am going to have to get that book.

so much blood on the government's hands.

[mountain grammy]

10. It's excellent

Gave me a whole new perspective on drug addiction and helped me deal with it in my own family. No one is immune.

[smirkymonkey]

6. Painful and yet beautiful at the same time.

Brings tears to my eyes.

[niyad]

9. . .