Forget ‘gonna’ U.S. needs freedom for all change now
Love Sam Cooke.
Yet, “A Change Is Gonna Come” by this soulful singer with a voice smoother and cooler than century-aged stones lodged in a mountain brook, disappoints.
It’s not the performance as Cooke attracts, enlightens and croons hope. It’s more about a brooding anthem for longing, waiting and not having access to the freedom enjoyed by Caucasians.
Black freedom exists as a human experience significantly different than most other people living “free” in the United States.
The first of millions of slaves arrived on this continent in 1619 which set the stage for myriad U.S. human rights violations, including slavery, lynchings and the offering of faux freedom.
A quater-centenary anniversary arrived and departed without a pause for perception as the people entrusted with power were incapable of mirroring-up for reflections on the past.
Black lives in America have tethered endurance, a life marathon with fighting necessary for every inch gained. Freedom has never been given freely and blacks still yearn for that deep breath kind of life that expands lungs and living to full capacity.
Meanwhile, Latinos and Spanish-speaking residents wait for their freedom while a government keeps millions waiting for a pathway to citizenship or deportation. They, too, need change,
Members of the LBGQTIA community should climb aboard this freedom train. It’s time for a United States makeover that offers national freedom and equality for all.
The thought of any entity, a nation such as the United States of America, a man like President Abraham Lincoln or his alleged equal Donald Trump, even a mayor such as Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora, overseeing time, travel and controlling freedom makes my heart cringe.
A couple Saturdays back, Cooke’s wonderfully-constructed song of infuriation played inside the Trenton Farmers Market just as my footsteps neared the Pinelands Farm corner booth. Cooke sings,
“I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I’ve been running ev’r since
It’s been a long time, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will.”
My heart cringed with the same hurt felt when hearing “We Shall Overcome (Someday).” Freedom should never exist as some distant desire. Freedom should be just around the corner, right after we finish this cup of coffee, as soon as the laundry gets folded — simply because the precarious nature of life offers no guarantee of tomorrow.
Cooke’s 1964 R&B hit ranks as one of the most recognizable songs associated with the African American Civil Rights Movement.
Cooke said creation of the song had inspiration from musician Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” and while the singer died young, 33, his song became an anthem for status quo.
On Tuesday, June 9 at 3:00 PM, radio stations nationwide played “A Change Is Gonna Come,” in commemoration of the life of George Floyd, a black man allegedly killed by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.
One grows weary of suggestions and requests for patience. ‘Wait your turn, son’, ‘Your day’s going to get here young man’, ‘In God’s time,’ a change gonna come, etc. (Oh, lord, yes.)
A man or woman can grow old, weary, too, while waiting for change, real change, change you can count on.
A personal pushback against Mayor Gusciora’s curfew challenged his power to confine, not in an emergency situation such as a pandemic or severe civil unrest but based on a belief that violence, in this case three murders, plus, several shootings and the potential for more events could be impacted by time constraints.
The curfew lasted more than two months as Gusciora
extended hours if people exhibited admirable social behaviors. He stated his right to extend or reduce hours based on his own observation and determination — that’s power.
Freedom had been kidnapped, hijacked and stolen with a Gusciora insight that he could give or take away this personal right.
Documented history shows that as ships bound from Africa via transatlantic voyages moved toward plantation destinations, some slaves, understanding where they were headed geographically and socially, comprehended what awaited them once their shackled feet reached land, jumped into the ocean and drowned.
Freedom remains a precious gift paid for with blood and death throughout U.S. history. Forget about “change is gonna”, everyone deserves to have all freedom — now.