I began college at Ole Miss in 1968, and while I was delighted to hear the pleading voices singing a song that I never thought I would hear sung by an Ole Miss choir, I recognize that the state of Mississippi still has a lot of work to do before it, as a whole, welcomes the cry: “We Shall Overcome.”
The Lyrics of “We Shall Overcome” Begin as Follows:
“We Shall Overcome, we shall overcome
We shall overcome someday.
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We shall overcome someday….”
“We Shall Overcome”[lyrics of a traditional song]. In Manning Marable and Leith Mullings, eds. Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform and Renewal (Oxford: Rowan & Littlefield, 1999).
Although the state of Mississippi has improved since I began college at Ole Miss in 1968, for most of Mississippi, the “We” of that song are still the “They,” and most Mississippians, like much of the USA are trying to do anything they can to keep the “They” from surviving–much less from overcoming.
The Lyrics of “We Shall Overcome” Continue as Follows:
“We are not afraid, we are not afraid,
We are not afraid today.
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We shall overcome someday….”
As I listened to the Ole Miss Choir sing the previous part of the song, I shook my head and thought, but even I am afraid of what is going on in this country now.
Unfortunately, a racist element has gained political power in this country, and the day that I heard these sweet voices in Mississippi pleading for survival, vicious riots had erupted in Los Angeles, and the president of the USA had usurped the governor of California’s authority and had unleashed the California National Guard on the rioters. Trump’s primary goal is to mount fear. Making the people of this country afraid is the first step toward achieving authoritarianism.
The next day, the president has vowed to send the United States Military to quash the will of the dissenters further, but even as I heard the choir sing: “We Are Not Afraid,” I acknowledged that most of this nation IS afraid of a government that seeks to destroy democracy–regardless of the host of lies and deceit and wickedness involved in doing just that.
Moments ago, I happened upon a scripture that seems as though it could have been written about the antics of the MAGA movement in the USA:
Psalm 64
Prayer for Protection from Enemies
To the leader. A Psalm of David.
1 Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
preserve my life from the dread enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
from the scheming of evildoers,
3 who whet their tongues like swords,
who aim bitter words like arrows,
4 shooting from ambush at the blameless;
they shoot suddenly and without fear.
5 They hold fast to their evil purpose;
they talk of laying snares secretly,
thinking, ‘Who can see us?[a]
6 Who can search out our crimes?[b]
We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot.’
For the human heart and mind are deep.
7 But God will shoot his arrow at them;
they will be wounded suddenly.
8 Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin;[c]
all who see them will shake with horror.
9 Then everyone will fear;
they will tell what God has brought about,
and ponder what he has done.
10 Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord
and take refuge in him.
Let all the upright in heart glory.
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