I had the good fortune to do an article about the new jazz radio station at the local HBCU, Livingstone College. It's WLJZ, 107.1. Check it out. You can stream it online through iheartradio.com or tunein.com, or at livingstone.edu/radio.
While we were in the studio for the interview, they were playing, "What's Going On," by Marvin Gaye. It was a hit in 1971.
While writing the article in my office yesterday, I googled the lyrics:
"Mother, mother / There's too many of you crying / Brother, brother, brother / There's far too many of you dying / You know we've got to find a way / To bring some loving here today…”
The song at the time was about the Vietnam War.
I was stricken yesterday by how relevant the lyrics are today. With young black men being shot for no reason,or being arrested for sitting in Starbucks waiting for friends, it's surely true that "There's far too many of you dying."
Two years ago a young black man was shot in the back while fleeing police. The vision of that video haunts me still today. They're supposed to shoot someone if he presents an immediate threat to police or others. HOW CAN HE BE A THREAT RUNNING AWAY?
There have been so many police-on-black shootings in the past few years I can't even remember where this one took place. Texas? I can't remember. Note. I looked it up after writing this post and the incident mentioned took place in SC.
I think it's time for someone to re-release this song.
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