Strange Fruit

watch video Strange Fruit 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.

I have to confess that I never realized that "Strange Fruit" was about lynchings. I consider myself to be fairly well-educated, but I continually seem to run across things that surprise me. There is so much to know, and so much to still learn.

Recently, on Bill Moyers Journal, Bill's guest was James Cone. The transcript and a video of the interview are here. The subject was the spate of nooses found across the country, no doubt prompted by the Jena 6 episode. It is rather odd to assume that this country might be over its racism so quickly after the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Anything but, really. 200+ years of slavery. 100+ years of segregation. And it's all fine now? Don't think so. Some have called slavery "America's original sin." And we are still a long way off from living together in peace.

Cone was saying that we cannot overcome this history by not talking about it or avoiding it. We have to confront it and discuss it until we come to grips with it. He also made a few references to Reinhold Niebuhr. I think some of Niebuhr's works will be next up on my reading list, specifically, "The Irony of American History." I'm not really into theologians, but sometimes you just have to stretch, you know?