Mississippi Goddam

Nina Simone -- a singer, songwriter and activist -- wrote a number of songs about her experiences as a black woman in America. Some of them are fairly subdued, possibly a result of her attempts to appease her American record label. Some are more direct.

Simone had plenty of personal experience to draw from, having grown up surrounded by the thinly veiled -- and sometimes blatant -- discrimination that was prevalent during the Jim Crow era. She chose to speak out through her music.

In 1963, in the heat of the civil rights movement, black activist Medgar Evers was shot in the back as he entered his home in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. He was murdered by a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Simone cited this among other incidents as inspiration for the song Mississippi Goddam.

The song describes the frustration of trying to fit in to American society as an equal, while still being treated as a second-class citizen. It also describes the anger that swells when the writer realizes that equality might never be reached.

"Oh but this whole country is full of lies
You’re all gonna die and die like flies"

That’s a pretty shocking line. I’m guessing that if Nina were still alive, she would be considered a terrorist. And whichever presidential candidate she supported would be a terrorist sympathizer. (You can read the rest of the lyrics here.)

Nina also wrote and performed love songs, blues songs, gospel music, and jazz. To characterize all of Simone’s music as radical black activist rhetoric would be very misleading.

That brings us to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Lots has already been said and written, so I’m not going to rant for too long. All I want to add to the blogosphere on this subject is this: If you don’t consider the entire person when judging a few of their words or actions, then you aren’t truly listening. Truly listening to somebody requires that one makes an attempt at understanding that person’s point of view.

Any person who is at all aware of the history of the black experience in America must conclude that hard feelings linger as a result of the continued disparity in the experience of black and white Americans. I think Barack Obama did an amazing job addressing this in his “race speech.”

Once again I am disappointed by the treatment this story received by the Media and Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The Media is harping on this because it is raunchy, not because it is news-worthy. And the Clinton campaign is again choosing to make petty arguments in an attempt to sway voters. It says something that John McCain reacted with class while Hillary grabbed handfuls of mud.