“the ink is black, the page is white/ together we learn to read and write/
a child is black, a child is white/ the whole world looks upon the sight…a beautiful sight.
and now a child can understand that this is the law of all the land, all the land.
the world is black, the world is white/ it turns by day and then by night/
a child is black, a child is white/ together they grow to see the light…to see the light.
and now at last we plainly see/ we’ll have a dance of liberty … liberty.”
(black and white – david arkin/earl robinson)
black and white was written in 1954 – the same year of the united states supreme court‘s decision of brown v board of education which outlawed racial segregation in public schools. it was recorded by pete seeger in 1956 and, with much more popularity – charting at number 1 – by three dog night in 1972.
clear messages.
the decision and the song.
at least they were.
the moral clarity of that decision is now clearly muddied in the sickeningly toxic waters – and also supreme court decision – of racial profiling in this administration’s efforts at mass deportation of immigrants.
some things are not black and white – things that fall into the grey of intelligent debate, the grey of historical perspective, the grey of interpretation that evolves with continual research seeking truth and information. memory is a bit grey, love is grey, indecision is grey, certainly apathy is grey.
but some things – in THIS democracy with THIS constitution, THIS bill of rights, THIS set of amendments – these things are black and white. clear. not bigoted. not racist. not xenophobic. not homophobic. not misogynistic.
but here we are.
what is it we wish our children to understand?
can they see the light?
where is the dance of liberty?
*****
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read DAVID’s thoughts this K.S. FRIDAY
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