You can count them one by one, it could be your son.
For Black History Month in honor of some unsung heroes of the civil rights movement in 1964.
There are no names to put on a plaque. There are no stories of family and friends to tell. There are no faces remembered. But we can honor the people who were murdered, in darkness, in hiding, for the "crime" of being black in America
In The Mississippi River
With all these young black men, black teenage boys and the young black boy, Tamir Rice, being murdered by cops, and the prosecutors protecting them; with the trumped up charges used on protesters and the insane charges against Tiny Doo, I can't get this song out of my mind.
Back in 1964 when the FBI was searching for the bodies of Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner, they dragged the Mississippi and Pearl Rivers. Though they didn't find those three Freedom Fighters in the river, they did find others. One was just a 14 year old boy with a C.O.R.E. t-shirt on. Seventeen bodies were found altogether, all were black males, at least 3 of which were Freedom Fighters. One was never identified, his head was missing. All were murdered.
No one was ever charged in any of those murders.
The only thing that has changed is how the murders of black men in America are executed.
Mavis Staples made the song famous but it was written by Marshall Jones in 1964. It is about the bodies found when the rivers were dragged. Mr. Jones was one of The SNCC Freedom Singers. They performed it in Chicago in 2007 for a reunion concert, which is where this video was recorded.
In The Mississippi River (SNCC Freedom Singers, C…:
Some of the lyrics:
It could be your son.
Count them two by two.
Could be me or you.
And they are gone in because of hate.
And you can count them nine by nine
In Mississippi this ain’t no crime.
And you can count them ten by ten
And we wonder when the right will win.
Reposted from last year for Black History Month.