TikTok confession of alleged lynching recalls history of Black trauma and white lies thegrio.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thegrio.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
I sat there trying to remember how to breathe.
I suspect I had that in common with people â particularly African-American people â all over the country. Didnât we all hold our breath as we awaited the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin?
Then that verdict was read. The former Minneapolis police officer was found guilty on all three counts in the death of George Floyd and was promptly handcuffed and led off to jail. On television, people shouted and prayed, cranking their fists toward heaven. I just sat there, trying to remember how lungs are supposed to work.
And thinking that justice â real justice â shouldnât be this difficult. In a nation that was not broken along seams of race, a nation where you could trust the police to actually protect and serve no matter the color of your skin, Chauvinâs conviction would have been a foregone conclusion. But in this nation, it was anything but. Thatâs why I forgot to breathe. And why, after the verd
historynewsnetwork.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from historynewsnetwork.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Behind âStrange Fruit,â Billie Holidayâs Anti-Lynching Anthem
It helped make Holiday a star, but it was written by Abel Meeropol, a teacher in the Bronx. An Oscar nomination and a year of protests against racism have kept it in the conversation.
Billie Holiday at a recording session in 1939. The film âThe United States vs. Billie Holidayâ chronicles the governmentâs efforts to suppress the song âStrange Fruit.âCredit.Charles Peterson/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
April 25, 2021, 6:51 p.m. ET
When Billie Holiday first performed âStrange Fruitâ in 1939, the song was so bold for the time that she could sing it only in certain places where it was safe to do so.
I sat there trying to remember how to breathe. I suspect I had that in common with people particularly African-American people all over the country. Did