The night air is heavy, no cool breezes blow.
The sounds of the voices are worried and low.
Desperately wondering and desperate to know,
About Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney.
Calm desperation and flickering hope,
Reality grapples like a hand on the throat.
For you live in the shadow of ten feet of rope,
If you're Goodman and Schwerner and Chaney.
The Pearl River was dragged and two bodies were found,
But it was a blind alley for both men were brown.
So they all shrugged their shoulders and the search it went on,
For Goodman and Schwerner and Chaney.
Pull out the dead bodies from the ooze of the dam.
Take the bodies to Jackson all accordin' to plan.
With the one broken body do the best that you can,
It's the body of young James Chaney.
The nation was outraged and shocked through and through.
Call J. Edgar Hoover. He'll know what to do.
For they've murdered two white men, and a colored boy too
Goodman and Schwerner and Chaney.
James Chaney your body exploded in pain,
And the beating they gave you is pounding my brain.
And they murdered much more with their dark bloody chains
And the body of pity lies bleeding.
The pot-bellied copper shook hands all around,
And joked with the rednecks who came into town
And they swore that the murderer soon would be found
And they laughed as they spat their tobacco.
The sounds of the voices are worried and low.
Desperately wondering and desperate to know,
About Goodman, Schwerner and Chaney.
Calm desperation and flickering hope,
Reality grapples like a hand on the throat.
For you live in the shadow of ten feet of rope,
If you're Goodman and Schwerner and Chaney.
The Pearl River was dragged and two bodies were found,
But it was a blind alley for both men were brown.
So they all shrugged their shoulders and the search it went on,
For Goodman and Schwerner and Chaney.
Pull out the dead bodies from the ooze of the dam.
Take the bodies to Jackson all accordin' to plan.
With the one broken body do the best that you can,
It's the body of young James Chaney.
The nation was outraged and shocked through and through.
Call J. Edgar Hoover. He'll know what to do.
For they've murdered two white men, and a colored boy too
Goodman and Schwerner and Chaney.
James Chaney your body exploded in pain,
And the beating they gave you is pounding my brain.
And they murdered much more with their dark bloody chains
And the body of pity lies bleeding.
The pot-bellied copper shook hands all around,
And joked with the rednecks who came into town
And they swore that the murderer soon would be found
And they laughed as they spat their tobacco.
inviata da Alessandro - 22/5/2009 - 10:48
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Album "Ain't That News"
Words and music by Tom Paxton
James Chaney aveva 21 anni, era un afroamericano e veniva da Meridian, Mississippi.
Andrew Goodman, aveva 20 anni, era un bianco, ebreo, studiava antropologia a New York.
Anche Michael Schwerner veniva da New York. Pure lui era bianco ed ebreo. Aveva 24 anni.
I tre giovani facevano parte del Movimento per i diritti civili ed in particolare dell'organizzazione CORE (Congress of Racial Equality).
Nel giugno del 1964 si trovavano a Longdale, Mississippi, per fare un rapporto su uno dei tanti episodi di aggressione alla comunità afroamericana, nello specifico l'incendio della chiesa metodista di Mount Zion, Neshoba County.
Il 21 giugno i tre giovani furono arrestati dalla polizia locale, costituita interamente da attivisti del KKK. Furono trattenuti e poi rilasciati, ma la loro auto fu inseguita da un commando dei suprematisti bianchi, costretta a fermarsi e i tre ragazzi furono selvaggiamente pestati e poi assassinati a colpi di pistola.
Gli assassini, i poliziotti stessi e altri membri del KKK, furono perseguiti ma condannati a pene lievissime. Solo tra il 2004 e il 2007 chi di quei bastardi era sopravvissuto fu finalmente condannato per gli omicidi commessi 40 anni prima.
La storia dei "Mississippi Civil Rights Workers Murders" è stata raccontata da Alan Parker nel suo film del 1988 "Mississippi Burning"