In March 1939, Billie Holiday performed her final song of the night in a small cafe in New York. With a single spotlight on her — she separated her lips and out flowed lyrics that left the crowd speechless.
“Southern trees bearing strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the roots
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees”
Strange Fruit became an anthem for black culture during the Segregation Era because of the lynchings that occurred up to the 1930s. The popularity of the song continued well into the Civil Rights Era which was then performed by Nina Simone in 1965.
Even up to 2015, presented by Morgan Freeman at A Shining Light Concert, Jill Scott delivers the song with poise and resiliency.
This is what white people tend to celebrate the most — black culture. We love the idea of Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Lionel Ritchie, Duke Ellington, and so much more.
The dilemma that positions itself in 2020 is that it is no longer enough to love black culture, we are called to participate in the celebration of black communities — not to keep quiet and allow injustice to take its course.
It’s time to advocate for those behind the arts we love, take a stance on racial discrimination, and speak up for those who are unable to speak for themselves.
I don’t want to just love their culture anymore — I want love them as people. Living, breathing, human-beings with names. Important people who are currently fighting for their livelihood in the United States of America. Figures the system has deliberately treated as a cockroach they’ve found in their kitchen encroaching on their comfort.
We aren’t living in the scene of a Kafka masterpiece, white people. We are fighting for social and moral decency.
The biggest argument I’ve encountered living in the South
“This ended so long ago — none of it even makes sense.”
or my favorite —
“This generation hasn’t even been affected by those things, it’s time to let it go”
This statement is referring to the abolishing of slavery, the voting rights act passed in 1965, the ridding of Jim Crow Laws, and criminalizing lynchings.
But if you’re a modern-day activist, one can see only new laws have replaced old laws.
Racism is still prominent.
Here is an example — let’s replace Jim Crow with the Stop and Frisk law in New York or even the House Bill 87 in Georgia.
Another example would be replacing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 with gentrification in the inner cities of America.
Let’s also consider the idea of “Rome wasn’t built in a day,” which is another saying I hear very often in the south.
We are talking about over 100 years’ worth of oppression, torture, segregation, and immorality.
The little ways we have come in the last 52 years hasn’t come close to balancing out the other half of the years white people of power have spent hoisting themselves to supremacy with money, propaganda, and abuse of legislative power.
Let’s even throw out statistics for a second.
Friend to friend, I am currently 22 years old, and I am still working through the trauma I haven’t fully recovered from that occurred when I was six years old. This is my point, the trauma I experienced wasn’t directed towards me.
You may not think people of color have experienced injustice because it looks different for this generation, but years of trauma in the same lineage has a ripple effect.
You may be white and considering all the statements above and mark off the box “I’m not racist,” but racism is systematic. It can only be stopped unless you speak up and take action, and even then the battle is ongoing.
I am not saying that because you are white you are racist. I’m saying we need to look at the system and put it under a microscope.
There are no gray areas when it comes to racism — you are either for your brothers and sisters or you are against them. Silence is not a bravery badge here.
Some of the laws you haven’t been affected by might be affecting someone else just because you are white — that is how the system has been designed. That’s why voting is so important, that’s why democracy is so important, that’s why correcting yourself even if it hurts to take a hard look in the mirror is so important.
It is simply not enough to love black culture. If we continue to lose lives to systematic racial injustice because we haven’t been affected by systematic issues, we won’t have any black culture left to celebrate. Are you hearing me?
You can’t have the culture without the people.
I am not the most educated person on the planet — I am actually realizing how much work I have to do as an individual. I realize that I need so much education and that’s why college is important. There are so many college people involved in current events and making a change.
I don’t need a college degree to realize that what is happening is wrong. I have a voice, and I fully intend to use it for the greater good. I know too many people that love the culture, but aren’t willing to get their hands dirty when it comes to these controversial issues. People who will indulge and fill themselves full with the fruit, but unwilling to labor. That is what I mean when I say just because you appreciate black culture doesn’t mean you aren’t anti-racist.
I want justice. I want to continue to love soul music. I want the Mississippi Mass Choir to wake me up in the morning singing blessings over me. I want to hear Morgan Freeman’s voice in every dramatic film. I want Will Smith’s wisdom and comedy to reflect how I act as a person. It’s not enough to love the art they create. We need them to mold us, to change us, to teach us, to give us grace for not speaking sooner.
We need change.
Support your local black-owned businesses and artists in the industry. Sign a petition. Remove some words from your vocabulary this week.
It’s time to walk the walk, and we have so much work to do.
“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
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Previously published on “Change Becomes You”, a Medium publication.
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Photo credit: Janine Robinson on Unsplash