JANUARY 14th 2024: Freedom songs

Music doesn't get in. Music is already in.
Music simply uncovers what is there, makes you feel emotions that you didn't necessarily know you had inside you, and runs around waking them all up.
A rebirth of sorts.” - Matt Haig in How to Stop Time  

 Songs of Freedom

This Sunday we're going to dig into the history and meaning of some iconic songs written and sung in the cause of freedom and justice, .  We'll sing some, hum some, listen some, and refresh our appreciation for how music has been a significant part of our personal lives and also the lives of those to whom justice and freedom has been denied. Music guided by love.

The first reading is from the work of the Romanian American writer, professor, political activist, Elie Wiesel.

There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.

Next are the words of the African American civil rights leader and advocate for nonviolence and gay rights, Bayard Rustin.

When an individual is protesting society’s refusal to acknowledge his dignity as a human being, his very act of protest confers dignity on him.

And unknown author describes how protest can impact us.

History shows that all protest movements rely on symbols – boycotts, strikes, sit-ins, flags, songs.  Symbolic action on whatever scale, from the Montgomery Bs Boycott to wearing a simple wristband – is designed to disrupt our everyday complacency and force people to think.   

And David Levithan, the young adult fiction writer who promotes diversity in his novels, ends our readings with a cheer:

            Long live protest songs, in whatever form they take

This Land

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YeNkdypKkQ