We need the funk,
Gotta have that funk
~Parliament
For Music Monday, old skool funk R&B from DJ Demetrius:
For something more serious:
Twenty Lessons (from On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder), read by John Lithgow
Monday, March 31, 2025
Thursday, March 27, 2025
If you can't fly, then run
And I noticed my new best friend—
by now we were holding hands—had a potted plant poking out of her bag,
some medicinal thing, with green furry leaves. Such an old country tradi-
tion. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.
~Naomi Shihab Nye
Happy Poetry Friday! Are you ready for National Poetry Month? I'm not, but I hope to get my act together soon. I'll be away next Friday but I'll schedule something. Today, we have a poem that is based on a true story about children striving to become Olympians.
The Ditch Kids of the Maui Sugar Company
by Derek Otsuji
Barred from swimming pools the hot summer long
but loving the delicious cold on our skins,
we dove in ditches dug to irrigate
the same fields where our fathers slogged, under
the supervising eye of a white sun winking
on the blades of their machetes. Of course
there were barbed fences to keep us from ditches,
just as there were codes that banned us from pools
sealed behind an elite sports club’s gleaming
walls, a taboo, like a shiny thing, asking
to be smashed.
Released from sluice gates,
the sloshing water, brown as our arms,
ran down the channels, as we dipped and stroked,
like salmon driven upstream, the russeting
current sliding off flexed shoulder blades
in silted robes as we reached speeds that broke
all barriers and in our homegrown upstart way,
always the outside chance, the dark horse’s surge,
we sugar ditch kids, turning laps like verses
of an olympian ode, plowed that narrow lane
to victory and were crowned aquatic kings.
************************
* The title of the post comes from a quote from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” I thought that was appropriate since the "ditch kids" found a way to keep swimming, and we all need to figure out our own ways to move forward.
* Fighting Back: A Citizen’s Guide to Resistance Ordinary people have more power than they know.
* National Bail Fund Network
* Poetry as a path to recovery for children in Ukraine
************************
Marcie Flinchum Atkins has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Marcie!
by now we were holding hands—had a potted plant poking out of her bag,
some medicinal thing, with green furry leaves. Such an old country tradi-
tion. Always carry a plant. Always stay rooted to somewhere.
~Naomi Shihab Nye
Happy Poetry Friday! Are you ready for National Poetry Month? I'm not, but I hope to get my act together soon. I'll be away next Friday but I'll schedule something. Today, we have a poem that is based on a true story about children striving to become Olympians.
The Ditch Kids of the Maui Sugar Company
by Derek Otsuji
Barred from swimming pools the hot summer long
but loving the delicious cold on our skins,
we dove in ditches dug to irrigate
the same fields where our fathers slogged, under
the supervising eye of a white sun winking
on the blades of their machetes. Of course
there were barbed fences to keep us from ditches,
just as there were codes that banned us from pools
sealed behind an elite sports club’s gleaming
walls, a taboo, like a shiny thing, asking
to be smashed.
Released from sluice gates,
the sloshing water, brown as our arms,
ran down the channels, as we dipped and stroked,
like salmon driven upstream, the russeting
current sliding off flexed shoulder blades
in silted robes as we reached speeds that broke
all barriers and in our homegrown upstart way,
always the outside chance, the dark horse’s surge,
we sugar ditch kids, turning laps like verses
of an olympian ode, plowed that narrow lane
to victory and were crowned aquatic kings.
************************
* The title of the post comes from a quote from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: “If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” I thought that was appropriate since the "ditch kids" found a way to keep swimming, and we all need to figure out our own ways to move forward.
* Fighting Back: A Citizen’s Guide to Resistance Ordinary people have more power than they know.
* National Bail Fund Network
* Poetry as a path to recovery for children in Ukraine
************************
Marcie Flinchum Atkins has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Marcie!
Terra Mariana
Creating a new country from scratch has given Estonia the license to imagine what a country could be.
~Taavet Hinrikus
Having a peaceful Art Thursday with photos of Estonia:
Võipere village
Iifar
Letipea peninsula
Kalev Vask
Noctilucent clouds, Kuresoo bog, Soomaa National Park
Martin Koitmäe
Ruhnu church from 1643–44
Metsavend
Osmussaar
Tõnis Saadre
~Taavet Hinrikus
Having a peaceful Art Thursday with photos of Estonia:
Võipere village
Iifar
Letipea peninsula
Kalev Vask
Noctilucent clouds, Kuresoo bog, Soomaa National Park
Martin Koitmäe
Ruhnu church from 1643–44
Metsavend
Osmussaar
Tõnis Saadre
Monday, March 24, 2025
Heroic
I don't know how it is, but the Germans are amazed at me and I am amazed at them for finding anything to be amazed about.
~Frederic Chopin
Happy Music Monday! Heroic Polonaise (1842) by Frédéric Chopin today, performed by the Berlin Pro Musica Symphony Orchestra.
Info about the piece from 10 Pieces of Classical Music About Freedom by Emily E. Hogstad:
~Frederic Chopin
Happy Music Monday! Heroic Polonaise (1842) by Frédéric Chopin today, performed by the Berlin Pro Musica Symphony Orchestra.
Info about the piece from 10 Pieces of Classical Music About Freedom by Emily E. Hogstad:
No sooner had [Polish composer Chopin] left for Vienna... than Warsaw broke out into armed conflict.
The November Uprising in Warsaw lasted from November 1830 until October 1831...
The Poles fought their occupiers, the Russians, but were ultimately crushed.
Chopin was devastated when he heard about the outcome. He wrote in his journal, “Oh God! … You are there, and yet you do not take vengeance!”
...He began incorporating polonaises – a dance form that originated in Poland – into his piano music.
He also began dating Paris-based authoress George Sand, who backed the Polish cause in her writings. After he wrote the Heroic Polonaise, she drew a direct line between the Polonaise and other countries’ fights for freedom and self-determination, writing, “The inspiration! The force! The vigour! There is no doubt that such a spirit must be present in the [1848] French Revolution. From now on, this Polonaise should be a symbol, a heroic symbol.”
Saturday, March 22, 2025
A reminder
French MEP Raphaël Glucksmann responding to the White House press secretary’s attack after Glucksmann suggested France should reclaim the Statue of Liberty:
“Dear Americans, since the White House press secretary is attacking me today, I wanted to tell you this:
Our two peoples are intimately linked by history, by the blood we shed, and by our shared passion for freedom—symbolized by the Statue of Liberty, which France gifted to honor your glorious Revolution.
As the press secretary for this shameful administration said: without your nation, France would have ‘spoken German.’ In my case, it goes further: I would simply not be here if Americans hadn’t landed on our beaches in Normandy.
Our gratitude to these heroes and their sacrifices is eternal. But the America of these heroes fought against tyrants, it did not flatter them. It was the enemy of fascism, not the friend of Putin.
It helped the resistance, not attacked Zelensky. It celebrated science, not fired researchers for using banned words. It welcomed the persecuted, not targeted them. It was far—so far—from what your current president does, says, and embodies.
This America—faithful to the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, your America—is worth so much more than betrayal. More than the abandonment of Ukraine and Europe. More than xenophobia and obscurantism.
We in Europe love this nation to which we owe so much. And we know it will rise again. You will rise again. We are counting on you.
And that is why I said in a rally: if your government despises everything the Statue of Liberty symbolizes, we could symbolically reclaim it. It was a wake-up call.
No one, of course, will come and steal the Statue of Liberty. The statue is yours. But what it embodies belongs to all of us. And if your government no longer cares for the free world, we will take up the torch here in Europe.
Until we meet again in the fight for freedom and dignity, we will be the continuators of our shared history and the protectors of our greatest treasure: not copper and steel, but the freedom it represents.”
****************
A poem I wrote last year:
FIRST, THE ARM WITH THE TORCH WAS BUILT
In 1865 when the Union held,
in his mind's eye
Edouard de Laboulaye
spotted the light of a beacon
in the hand of a woman
all the way from France
what greater gift
what better friend
than one who calls forth
the truest self
again and again?
Thursday, March 20, 2025
Calling all dragon-slayers
It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.
~J. R. R. Tolkien
Happy Poetry Friday!
This Is An Incitement
by Chris Riddell
Don’t settle into inertia
As the ash falls on your head and shoulders,
Soft and ankle deep at your feet
Take up your pens and brushes
And make Art.
The ancient dragon of greed
Coiled tight around their hoards
Don’t understand Art.
But the snake oil minions
Who whisper in their ears as they sleep,
They fear it.
Art can capture the souls
They bought and paid for.
If you want to slay dragons,
Make Art.
***************
Imagine the Possibilities has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Rose!
A housekeeping note: I'm moving my blog to Wordpress! (I've been partially de-Googlifying myself for various reasons...The last straw was removing Black History Month from their calendar. What a bunch of cowards) My new blog is quirky because I can't figure out how some things work, but it should be okay by next Friday.
P.S. Support for US International Media Workers
P.P.S. Creative Protests popping up everywhere
P.P.P.S. Wired: How to Avoid U.S.-Based Digital Services and why you might want to
~J. R. R. Tolkien
Happy Poetry Friday!
This Is An Incitement
by Chris Riddell
Don’t settle into inertia
As the ash falls on your head and shoulders,
Soft and ankle deep at your feet
Take up your pens and brushes
And make Art.
The ancient dragon of greed
Coiled tight around their hoards
Don’t understand Art.
But the snake oil minions
Who whisper in their ears as they sleep,
They fear it.
Art can capture the souls
They bought and paid for.
If you want to slay dragons,
Make Art.
***************
Imagine the Possibilities has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Rose!
A housekeeping note: I'm moving my blog to Wordpress! (I've been partially de-Googlifying myself for various reasons...The last straw was removing Black History Month from their calendar. What a bunch of cowards) My new blog is quirky because I can't figure out how some things work, but it should be okay by next Friday.
P.S. Support for US International Media Workers
P.P.S. Creative Protests popping up everywhere
P.P.P.S. Wired: How to Avoid U.S.-Based Digital Services and why you might want to
Free art classes
When I learn something new - and it happens every day - I feel a little more at home in this universe, a little more comfortable in the nest.
~Bill Moyers
Happy Art Thursday! Today I thought I'd point out some art classes/videos. Free online classes abound!
Links:
* Healing with the Arts, a University of Florida class through Coursera
* Princeton Art Museum has online drawing classes for all ages
* How to draw anything --learn sketching for beginners in 7 steps with Julia Bausenhardt
* Control+ Paint free video library has series on Digital Painting, Traditional Drawing, Composition Basics, and Using Reference Materials.
* Techniques for Illustrators: Monoprinting at Home by Leeds Arts University (Seems good for people who aren't illustrators, too! I am going to give it a shot.)
* Gothic Calligraphy Tutorial
~Bill Moyers
* Healing with the Arts, a University of Florida class through Coursera
* Princeton Art Museum has online drawing classes for all ages
* How to draw anything --learn sketching for beginners in 7 steps with Julia Bausenhardt
* Control+ Paint free video library has series on Digital Painting, Traditional Drawing, Composition Basics, and Using Reference Materials.
* Techniques for Illustrators: Monoprinting at Home by Leeds Arts University (Seems good for people who aren't illustrators, too! I am going to give it a shot.)
* Gothic Calligraphy Tutorial
Monday, March 17, 2025
Our fine land in the possession of thieves
There's a long tradition of Irish protest songs. There are literally thousands of songs, and they all were on the theme of resisting injustice.
~Mick Moloney
Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody!
Below is a song written by an Englishman in support of the Irish and an Irish song for two English children. People reaching across a divide to one another. Plus a "rebel song" (which the post title comes from).
Kate Beaudoin:
The Cranberries with Zombie:
Óró, sé do bheatha abhaile (or Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile) is a traditional Irish song that came to be known as a rebel song in the early twentieth century. Óró is a cheer, whilst sé do bheatha 'bhaile means "you are welcome home". (Wikipedia)
~Mick Moloney
Happy St. Patrick's Day, everybody!
Below is a song written by an Englishman in support of the Irish and an Irish song for two English children. People reaching across a divide to one another. Plus a "rebel song" (which the post title comes from).
Kate Beaudoin:
In 1981, English band the Police released this song, a tribute to the Irish. Lead singer Sting wrote the song while he was living in Ireland, when there were hunger strikes in Belfast. During the strikes, Irish Republican Army leader Bobby Sands died of starvation in a British prison. "I wanted to write about that, but I wanted to show some light at the end of the tunnel," Sting told Revolver. "I do think there has to be an 'invisible sun.' You can't always see it, but there has to be something radiating light into our lives."
The Cranberries with Zombie:
Óró, sé do bheatha abhaile (or Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile) is a traditional Irish song that came to be known as a rebel song in the early twentieth century. Óró is a cheer, whilst sé do bheatha 'bhaile means "you are welcome home". (Wikipedia)
Thursday, March 13, 2025
Smooth
Listen to my feet and I will tell you the story of my life.
~John Bubbles
Happy Poetry Friday! My first poetic impulse was...dark, but I searched until I found mysecond third fourth impulse, haha, and so here we are with a poem by Glenis Redmond about Peg Leg Bates.
I’m Fly
Glenis Redmond
For Clayton “Peg Leg” Bates
Some people got two good feet
and still don’t know what to do.
My smoothness makes the argument
for just one. My other leg be long gone
sacrificed to the cotton gin god.
They pinned my mangled mess down
to the kitchen table. Made me suffer more
under the hand of an unsterilized knife
with only a cotton bit to bare the pain.
I got up and spit out that terrible taste
of Jim Crow and pity. Spun my mama’s guilt
and worry into a dance that twists past
the neighbors’ prayer, gossip and stares...
read the rest here
***************
Salt City Verse has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Janice!
Want another helping of joy? I love this and these folks.
~John Bubbles
Happy Poetry Friday! My first poetic impulse was...dark, but I searched until I found my
I’m Fly
Glenis Redmond
For Clayton “Peg Leg” Bates
Some people got two good feet
and still don’t know what to do.
My smoothness makes the argument
for just one. My other leg be long gone
sacrificed to the cotton gin god.
They pinned my mangled mess down
to the kitchen table. Made me suffer more
under the hand of an unsterilized knife
with only a cotton bit to bare the pain.
I got up and spit out that terrible taste
of Jim Crow and pity. Spun my mama’s guilt
and worry into a dance that twists past
the neighbors’ prayer, gossip and stares...
read the rest here
***************
Salt City Verse has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Janice!
Want another helping of joy? I love this and these folks.
Peeking out
Every crag and gnarled tree and lonely valley has its own strange and graceful legend attached to it.
~Douglas Hyde
For Art Thursday, the urban art of Lithuanian and Polish painter Linas Domarack, photos by Kontrola:
~Douglas Hyde
For Art Thursday, the urban art of Lithuanian and Polish painter Linas Domarack, photos by Kontrola:
Monday, March 10, 2025
Groove
Go-go is so drum and Congo based. It's almost like music from Africa.
~Goldlink
Happy Music Monday!
I had fun at a graffiti workshop for my birthday. We talked about go-go music there, and I mentioned it to a friend who told me this is her favorite go-go mix. And here we are!
~Goldlink
Happy Music Monday!
I had fun at a graffiti workshop for my birthday. We talked about go-go music there, and I mentioned it to a friend who told me this is her favorite go-go mix. And here we are!
Saturday, March 8, 2025
Courage is contagious
I know that the day will come when the darkness over our country will dissipate.
~Vladimir Kara-Murza
For International Women's Day, a TED talk by Nadya Tolokonnikova, founding member of the anti-Putin resistance group Pussy Riot:
~Vladimir Kara-Murza
For International Women's Day, a TED talk by Nadya Tolokonnikova, founding member of the anti-Putin resistance group Pussy Riot:
Thursday, March 6, 2025
Worth fighting for
Two things form the bedrock of any open society—freedom of expression and rule of law. If you don't have those things, you don't have a free country.
~Salman Rushdie
Happy Poetry Friday! Black poets with poems for our times today. We have community support from Bianca Lynne Spriggs, encouragement from Amanda Gorman, resilience/defiance from Lucille Clifton, the value of education from Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and a reality check from Gwendolyn Brooks.
Some days I just can't look away from the news. It's like someone I love is ill and I am keeping a bedside vigil. But it's rough, and I definitely need to find a healthy balance.* Today I've had a deep dive into poetry and that has been refreshing, no matter the topic.
It doesn't take very much attention to notice that a man who says "let's celebrate pediatric cancer survivors" while cancelling funding for pediatric cancer research is not a truthteller. His supporters believe him anyway. Here's Gwendolyn Brooks with "truth":
truth
by Gwendolyn Brooks
And if sun comes
How shall we greet him?
Shall we not dread him,
Shall we not fear him
After so lengthy a
Session with shade?
Though we have wept for him,
Though we have prayed
All through the night-years—
What if we wake one shimmering morning to
Hear the fierce hammering
Of his firm knuckles
Hard on the door?
Shall we not shudder?—
Shall we not flee
Into the shelter, the dear thick shelter
Of the familiar
Propitious haze?
Sweet is it, sweet is it
To sleep in the coolness
Of snug unawareness.
****************************
Earthrise
by Amanda Gorman
For it is our hope that implores us, at our uncompromising core,
To keep rising up for an earth more than worth fighting for.
read the rest here
****************************
won’t you celebrate with me
by Lucille Clifton
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.
read the rest here
****************************
Learning to Read
by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Very soon the Yankee teachers
Came down and set up school;
But, oh! how the Rebs did hate it,—
It was agin’ their rule.
Our masters always tried to hide
Book learning from our eyes;
Knowledge did’nt agree with slavery—
’Twould make us all too wise.
But some of us would try to steal
A little from the book.
read the rest here
****************************
To the woman I saw today who wept in her car
by Bianca Lynne Spriggs
Woman,
I know you.
I know how that thing
when left unattended
will show up as a typhoon
at your front door
demanding to be let in
or it will take
the whole damn house with it.
I know this place too.
I get it.
read the rest here
****************************
* If you like Key and Peele, these make me laugh. (I know LaShawn is a lot, but I was the sort of person to have themed days when my kids were growing up, haha!)
Reflections on the Teche has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Margaret!
~Salman Rushdie
Happy Poetry Friday! Black poets with poems for our times today. We have community support from Bianca Lynne Spriggs, encouragement from Amanda Gorman, resilience/defiance from Lucille Clifton, the value of education from Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and a reality check from Gwendolyn Brooks.
Some days I just can't look away from the news. It's like someone I love is ill and I am keeping a bedside vigil. But it's rough, and I definitely need to find a healthy balance.* Today I've had a deep dive into poetry and that has been refreshing, no matter the topic.
It doesn't take very much attention to notice that a man who says "let's celebrate pediatric cancer survivors" while cancelling funding for pediatric cancer research is not a truthteller. His supporters believe him anyway. Here's Gwendolyn Brooks with "truth":
truth
by Gwendolyn Brooks
And if sun comes
How shall we greet him?
Shall we not dread him,
Shall we not fear him
After so lengthy a
Session with shade?
Though we have wept for him,
Though we have prayed
All through the night-years—
What if we wake one shimmering morning to
Hear the fierce hammering
Of his firm knuckles
Hard on the door?
Shall we not shudder?—
Shall we not flee
Into the shelter, the dear thick shelter
Of the familiar
Propitious haze?
Sweet is it, sweet is it
To sleep in the coolness
Of snug unawareness.
****************************
Earthrise
by Amanda Gorman
For it is our hope that implores us, at our uncompromising core,
To keep rising up for an earth more than worth fighting for.
read the rest here
****************************
won’t you celebrate with me
by Lucille Clifton
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.
read the rest here
****************************
Learning to Read
by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper
Very soon the Yankee teachers
Came down and set up school;
But, oh! how the Rebs did hate it,—
It was agin’ their rule.
Our masters always tried to hide
Book learning from our eyes;
Knowledge did’nt agree with slavery—
’Twould make us all too wise.
But some of us would try to steal
A little from the book.
read the rest here
****************************
To the woman I saw today who wept in her car
by Bianca Lynne Spriggs
Woman,
I know you.
I know how that thing
when left unattended
will show up as a typhoon
at your front door
demanding to be let in
or it will take
the whole damn house with it.
I know this place too.
I get it.
read the rest here
****************************
* If you like Key and Peele, these make me laugh. (I know LaShawn is a lot, but I was the sort of person to have themed days when my kids were growing up, haha!)
Reflections on the Teche has the Poetry Friday round-up. Thanks, Margaret!
Saorsa
The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.
~Sydney J. Harris
I started knitting last November, not long after the election. I am not expecting to be "good" at it-- I just like to do it because it calms me down. The other day, as I was picking up my "therapy scarf," a video popped up about AOC knitting. [Some people thought she shouldn't be knitting (???) and another person was coming to her defense.]
The name of this post means "Freedom" in Gaidhlig (Scottish Gaelic). Freedom to relax how you want, freedom to think outside the lines.
For Art Thursday, nontraditional knitting:
Social Knitwork
Friedenauer Brücke, Berlin-Schöneberg, Deutschland
Home-knitted protective cover for old tractor
by Beiarn Handicraft Society, Beiarn, Nordland, Norway.
photo by Frankemann
Ik en mijn Brei Art bike Boelenslaan
Baykedevries
Knitted egg cozies in blue and yellow demonstrate for peace in Ukraine
Haeferl
The Swabian Alb as seen across the Wurmlingen Chappel and the Rammert
Heidrun Liegmann (Knitter)
Rainer Halama
Knitted graffiti in Kiryat Hamelacha
by Liza Mamali
photo by Nizzan Cohen
~Sydney J. Harris
I started knitting last November, not long after the election. I am not expecting to be "good" at it-- I just like to do it because it calms me down. The other day, as I was picking up my "therapy scarf," a video popped up about AOC knitting. [Some people thought she shouldn't be knitting (???) and another person was coming to her defense.]
The name of this post means "Freedom" in Gaidhlig (Scottish Gaelic). Freedom to relax how you want, freedom to think outside the lines.
For Art Thursday, nontraditional knitting:
Social Knitwork
Friedenauer Brücke, Berlin-Schöneberg, Deutschland
Home-knitted protective cover for old tractor
by Beiarn Handicraft Society, Beiarn, Nordland, Norway.
photo by Frankemann
Ik en mijn Brei Art bike Boelenslaan
Baykedevries
Knitted egg cozies in blue and yellow demonstrate for peace in Ukraine
Haeferl
The Swabian Alb as seen across the Wurmlingen Chappel and the Rammert
Heidrun Liegmann (Knitter)
Rainer Halama
Knitted graffiti in Kiryat Hamelacha
by Liza Mamali
photo by Nizzan Cohen
Monday, March 3, 2025
Ain't gonna play
It is not our diversity which divides us; it is not our ethnicity, or religion or culture that divides us. Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division amongst us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not.
~Nelson Mandela
Apartheid has been coming up more lately because of the influence in our government of a white man from South Africa who grew up under the apartheid system. How was he influenced by apartheid? I don't know, did it give him the urge to remove all mentions of Black people from everything?
Here's a catchy song from the '80s with a truly impressive bunch of folks in it. Pat Benatar! Darlene Love! Miles Davis! See who you spot. (There's a list below.)
"In 1985, Steven Van Zandt, along with Arthur Baker, Hart Perry, and Danny Schechter, formed Artists United Against Apartheid and Van Zandt would write “Sun City,” an anthemic Rock/Hip Hop/R&B song protesting the Apartheid system symbolized by the South African resort, Sun City. Over 50 artists including Gil Scott-Heron, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Grandmaster Melle Mel, George Clinton, Run DMC, Jimmy Cliff, Ruben Blades, Pat Benatar, Herbie Hancock, Lou Reed, Joey Ramone, Peter Gabriel, Bob Geldof, Clarence Clemons, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Darlene Love, Bobby Womack, Afrika Bambaataa, Kurtis Blow, The Fat Boys, Jackson Browne, Peter Wolf, Bonnie Raitt, Hall & Oates, Big Youth, Michael Monroe, Stiv Bators, Peter Garrett, Ron Carter, Ray Barretto, Nona Hendryx, and Miles Davis."
~Nelson Mandela
Apartheid has been coming up more lately because of the influence in our government of a white man from South Africa who grew up under the apartheid system. How was he influenced by apartheid? I don't know, did it give him the urge to remove all mentions of Black people from everything?
Here's a catchy song from the '80s with a truly impressive bunch of folks in it. Pat Benatar! Darlene Love! Miles Davis! See who you spot. (There's a list below.)
"In 1985, Steven Van Zandt, along with Arthur Baker, Hart Perry, and Danny Schechter, formed Artists United Against Apartheid and Van Zandt would write “Sun City,” an anthemic Rock/Hip Hop/R&B song protesting the Apartheid system symbolized by the South African resort, Sun City. Over 50 artists including Gil Scott-Heron, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Bono, Grandmaster Melle Mel, George Clinton, Run DMC, Jimmy Cliff, Ruben Blades, Pat Benatar, Herbie Hancock, Lou Reed, Joey Ramone, Peter Gabriel, Bob Geldof, Clarence Clemons, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Darlene Love, Bobby Womack, Afrika Bambaataa, Kurtis Blow, The Fat Boys, Jackson Browne, Peter Wolf, Bonnie Raitt, Hall & Oates, Big Youth, Michael Monroe, Stiv Bators, Peter Garrett, Ron Carter, Ray Barretto, Nona Hendryx, and Miles Davis."
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