“I believe Nina Simone tried to build that gun because that night she realized what all other-ed bodies eventually realize: a gun was already at her head. She feared a song might not be enough. The fact that this gun could not be seen didn’t make it any less real or lethal. And I wonder if it felt like comfort or a trigger being pulled to be told ‘the only thing you’ve got is music.’”
At Lambda Literary, Rumpus contributor Saeed Jones ponders the distinction between writing back and fighting back.
One response
The only item on my bucket list is finishing my book about slavery and Benjamin Franklin, and making it available to the public. I’ve been involved in this project since June, 2002, when I read “Walking with the Wind” by John Lewis. My earliest political memory is the bombing at Birmingham, but I didn’t know much about the Freedom Rides in 1961. While reading the book, I thought “yes, they were brutalized and murdered and their bodies were thrown into creeks, but they had the clear battle – people all over the world could understand the importance of the vote, housing, travel – now you have to prove discrimination exists before anyone will even discuss it.” Thoughts never expressed to a living person before now. In November, 2002, I saw a PBS special about Franklin, and I was very eager to see what would be said about the slaves in his life. The comment was along the lines of, “He had a couple of personal servants, and he bought and sold slaves through his business as a young man, but he was appointed president of the Pennsylvania Abolitionist Society in 1787.” End of story. I knew it was b.s., and I knew I could prove it. I’m not sure why it is so important to do it, but I will do it.
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