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Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Strange Fruit

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.

- Billie Holliday


What does it say about the United States of America in 2005 when a resolution - one apologizing to the victims of lynching and the descendants of those victims for the failure of the Senate to enact anti-lynching legislation - only gets 81 out of 100 Senators to sign it? We are less than a week away from celebrating Juneteenth - the day the last slaves were emancipated from slavery - and there are 19 Senators who won't sign a resolution condemning lynching? These are the Senators who refused to sign the resolution:

Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Robert Bennett (R-UT)
Christopher Bond (R-MO)
Jim Bunning (R-KY)
Conrad Burns (R-MT)
Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
Thad Cochran (R-MS)
John Cornyn (R-TX)
Michael Crapo (R-ID)
Michael Enzi (R-WY)
Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Judd Gregg (R-NH)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Trent Lott (R-MS)
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Richard Shelby (R-AL)
John Sununu (R-NH)
Craig Thomas (R-WY)
George Voinovich (R-OH)

Notice a trend? We have a lot of work to do - it's time to build that Black Donor Class right now! Here are the approval ratings for all of the Senators - some food for thought...

Emancipated by Athanasius @ 1:00 AM

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