Black Protest

When Adam asked what shaped my political views I was momentarily stuck stupid. I haven’t really thought about it ever, then I remember Tina’s then boyfriend, Twin, riding up the street in his Blue Oldsmobile Tornado with the half black vinyl top, rabbit ears and Marvin Gaye playing. At the time I was unsure what Marvin was talking about. Hell I was only 9 at the time, maybe, but “Mother, Mother, there’s far too many of you crying” made me stop and listen to the rest. Always a curious person I dug deeper and came across a whole host of music that resonated within my young mind. I would move on throughout my years listening and embracing a culture of protest, especially black protest and hung on to every word like a security blanket. There would be days when my father would play Billie Holiday singing “Strange Fruit” and Sam Cooke “a Change Gonna Come”. These songs and lyrics would propel me to find the source of songwriter’s discontent and I would spend countless hours after school and Saturdays perusing the library for information. The librarian at the time was an old woman with wild hair. Ms. Pierson, who was happy to supply me with all the writings of the Harlem Renaissance and Beat Generation. As I got older protest songs continued to shape my political views by reporting what was happening on the streets. Public Enemy hollering “……gotta give us what we need Our freedom of speech is freedom or death we got to fight the powers that be Lemme hear you say Fight the power…” Mind Blowing!!! Again I knew my politics leaned more militant than liberal. When N.W.A. started reporting on the L.A. streets with “F*&K the Police” and Tupac with “I hear Brendas got a baby but Brendas barely got a brain a damn shame the girl can hardly spell her name….), I was lost among the fist in the air, afro wearing protesters, rolling my sons around in their stroller in Davis attending every campus event that had anything to do with black folks under siege. I was so heavy into protesting that my sons bedtime story of the Autobiography of Malcolm X – Alex Haley and Soul on Ice – Eldridge Cleaver. Still to this day I look for protest in music and song and wonder if we will ever be able to report the news with such eloquence. Well one can only hope