Since 1968, at least 1.4 million Americans have been killed by guns—more than all the U.S.'s accumulated war dead in that same period.
Well I hope the police in the US don't decide that the action of one person, who decided to take out his frustration on the Dallas police by committing a mass attack on white policemen there, is very different from any other mass killing that we've been witnessing. No one is safe as long as we continue to place assault weapons into the hands of those who are willing to pick people as targets and start shooting. They can be children at a daycare, Black churchgoers, military personnel, LGBT people, planned parenthood advocates or just random folks at the wrong place at the wrong time. America is slowly killing itself from the inside. The country is sick and in need of treatment very badly. Now is not the time for more paranoia. Now is the time for sincere soul searching and some very serious group therapy on a mass level. Get some help America before you go beyond the point of no return!
Police Killings Just Too Common.
Besides unarmed men, the victims include women, children, the elderly as well as physically and mentally disabled people. If they are allowed to continue, who knows how bad it will get?
While some people would like to blame the #BlackLivesMatter movement for the fact that some individuals have taken matters into their own hands and struck out violently against police force. Why is it that they don't recognize the possibility that one of the most deadly police organizations in the world has created this backlash by it's own actions and that the failure of the authorities to reign in this deadly force has left citizens in fear of an organization that is supposed to be preserving peace in the land. Too many people would like to equate #BLM to a terrorist organization. IMO the organization that is on track to take 1200 or more US lives has a much better chance of living up to that reputation.
Lift every voice and sing,
Till earth and heaven ring,
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty;
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies,
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us,
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun,
Let us march on till victory is won.
Stony the road we trod,
Bitter the chast’ning rod,
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died;
Yet with a steady beat,
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered.
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,
Out from the gloomy past,
Till now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by Thy might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray.
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest our hearts, drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee;
Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.
"Many people are surprised to learn that "Lift Every Voice and Sing" was first written as a poem. Created by James Weldon Johnson, it was performed for the first time by 500 school children in celebration of President Lincoln's Birthday on February 12, 1900 in Jacksonville, FL. The poem was set to music by Johnson's brother, John Rosamond Johnson, and soon adopted by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) as its official song. Today “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is one of the most cherished songs of the African American Civil Rights Movement and is often referred to as the Black National Anthem."
This song has my vote for the song of African-American Music Appreciation Month. I want to see more of our people learning and singing this song every time we gather whether to celebrate a special occasion or to continue our struggle against racism and systemic abuse. It's unifying and positive theme, can only help us to work and strive together to bring to an end the outrageous conditions we still have to endure as a people.
I have collected several different versions "Lift Every Voice" That I find particularly moving. You probably won't have a chance to listen to them in one sitting but you can always come back for more. Please share and encourage family, friends and comrades to listen and share.
Lift Every Voice and Sing (Black National Anthem) - Harmonyx
committed6mu MPrynt
Ray Charles
Gladys Knight and Bebe Winans
Acapella
Makuena Carissa May
Hassan Green
Stevie Wonder Medley
Melba Moore Featuring Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, The Clark Sisters, Freddie Jackson, Anita Baker, Bobby Brown, Howard Hewett, Take 6, Stephanie Mills, BeBe & CeCe Winans and Jeffrey Osborne. (order of singing)
Alexandra Williams
Choir
With Lyrics
Okay if you're still here or you skipped ahead you get to hear my very favorite version. Pearl-Cohn Magnet High School
