Friday, September 7, 2012

Strange fruit




Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday

Southern trees bear a strange fruit, 
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, 
Black body 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 magnolia sweet and fresh, 
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck, 
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop, 
Here is a strange and bitter crop.

What could drive people to commit such atrocities on another human being? Is it as simple as us-vs-them propelled by the mob mentality? Quite a number of lynchers in the American south during the segregation era were actually church-going members of the society; they even created memorabilia of the horrifying events. The lynchers of the mentally ill man accused of burning the Quran in Pakistan claimed that they were doing it in the name of Allah. Angry mobs killed African-looking men in Libya in retaliation to atrocities committed by African mercenaries in Ghaddafi's employ. If you are accused of practising witchcraft, don't think that not living in the dark ages or 18th century will save you; people accused of being witches in Africa are still being killed in this modern 21st century.

How does fear and hatred remove your moral brakes so totally that such heinous action can be deemed acceptable?

*contemplates*

Inspired by this article.

3 comments:

I don't understand that reference said...

We are always blame for something. Our religion, the color of our skin what is new? Americans insult us kata kita mempergunakan ugama for politik well guess what? itula salah satu tema undian depa kali ini 'religion values' berkenaan homosexual marriage. Tula Amerika meludah di langit kena balik di muka sendiri.. tak sedar tu. Tp depa tak sebut la religion values kan.. mmg tak ngaku punye

Snuze said...

Hahaha ... kuman seberang laut, beb. Gajah depan mata tu invisible.

:P

I don't understand that reference said...

Masa mula-mula I comment I hanya baca your summary. Now I did some reasearch ohh! the horrors of suatu masyarakat memperlakukan satu bangsa kerana sebab mereka bekas hamba dan juga berkulit gelap. En. Wiki kata it is about racism.. tp it is more than that.. society dulu scr budayanya sebuah society menggunakan hamba. I point it out sbb ia berakar umbi sebelum zaman Nabi Muhammad dan juga zaman-zaman Rome ancient dulu.

I tak paham sgt maksud lyric lagu pada mulanya hingga I tgk this vid oleh a new singer (bukan Billie) tp dia tunjuk gambar2 lama zaman America membenarkan budaya 'lynching' terhadap org2 kulit hitam ni. Sungguh menyedihkan dan dasat. Ada dalam gambar dia biarkan anak-anak dia tengok dgn gumbira dan senyum mcm pesta no wonder ada keturunan depa 'sakit'

Lagu ni adalah tanda protes terhadap budaya lynching ni. It reminds of an episode in Spartacus :Vengence di mana domina tu slps depa seksa-seksa hamba, minah tu ambik pedang dan rodok perut dia and she is masa mengandung. Well ending minah domina tu pun not good lam series tu akhirnye.


I will leave this link untuk share ngan you with a warning yg gambar2 tu are DISTURBING

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLTtiJY6I1M