by Richard Lawson
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| BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Prosecutors in the trial of Ahmaud Arbery's accused murderers filed a flurry of new motions in recent days, including 15 in just the past 24 hours. Among them, the state's District Attorney's Office is asking the judge to allow a three-hour closing argument (an hour longer than allowed) and to show jurors cell phone video of Arbery's killing during opening statements. Arbery was shot to death on Feb. 23, 2020, after three men chased him through the coastal Georgia neighborhood of Satilla Shores. Travis and Greg McMichael are charged with first-degree murder along with their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, who joined the chase and recorded the incident on his cell phone. All three have pleaded not guilty. … The state has filed previous motions seeking to keep out evidence of Arbery's diagnosed mental illness or his prior run-ins with police. The judge has not yet ruled on any of the motions. The next court date is July 22 at 10 a.m. —First Coast News, July 2, 2021 |
1. I Sing For Ahmaud
I sing for my sanity
At night when I cannot sleep
When the darkness plays an endless loop
Of yesterday’s tragic news
And I sing for the young black men
Daily dying in our bleeding streets
And I sing and pray for the mothers
Whose tears stoke the flames of justice
Now I sing and I pray
Try to understand the fear the killers feel
Why they grasp the coward’s last line of defense
The trigger of a gun
Yes I sing and pray that they’re something more
Than the heartless, mindless head at the White House door
Greeting millions marching for justice
With tear gas and vicious dogs
I sing for my sanity
And pray for a savior like Dr. King
To heal this deeply wounded world
With wisdom, peace and love
Yes I sing for the martyrs
That their blood will finally cleanse this world
And slake the thirst of hate
For now and all-time
Now I sing and I pray
Try to understand the fear the killers feel
Why they grasp the coward’s last line of defense
The trigger of a gun
I sing and pray that there’s something more
That the mindless, heartless head at the White House door
Greeting millions marching for justice
With tear gas and vicious dogs
Yes I sing, I sing, I sing
I sing for this country’s sanity
2. Chanty For Ahmaud
The sunbeams and shadows thread through the Spanish moss
As the young men run under the live oak trees
It’s 1820 and all is well
Cause young black men know where they should be
At work for the master crushing shells from the beach
Making tabby all day, yes that’s their play
Hang your head low and shuffle your feet
Building master’s big house on Satilla’s white shore (and they sing)
“Ho, Ho. Scrape and pound.
Happy at work for the master
Ho. Ho. Yes scrape and pound
Crushing shells for tabby to build Master’s house.”
Now it’s two thousand twenty, see what we’ve lost
Young black men forgot their place in this world
They dare to run on Satilla’s white shore
Without a white man to set their course
Sorry to say it had to be done
Lesson well-taught with an old shotgun
Soon we’ll forget and go back to our ways
When young black men knew their place (and they’ll sing)
“Ho. Ho. Scrape and pound.
Happy at work for master
Ho. Ho. Yes I scrape and pound
Crushing shells for tabby to build Master’s house.”
3. Black Lives Matter
Black lives matter
Finally a cause worth dying for
Black lives matter
Finally a chance to do what Jesus would do
Do you know Jesus
He used to run every Sunday down in southeast Georgia
Then one day two white men shot Jesus dead in the street
Crucify! Crucify! Yes they crucified Jesus again
Do you know Jesus
After dying in Georgia, she moved up to Kentucky
Asleep in her own bed the police shot her dead
Crucify! Crucify! Yes they crucified Jesus again
Black lives matter
Finally a cause worth dying for
Black lives matter
Finally a chance to do what Jesus would do
Do you know Jesus
Dead in Kentucky, on up to Minnesota
Policeman put a knee on his neck, he died
Crucify! Crucify! Yes they crucified Jesus again
Black lives matter
Do you know Jesus
4. Little Jimmy’s Eatin’ Some Crow Now
Awake this morning before the cock crowed
I worry, worry, worry bout my battered soul
I can’t stop seeing that black child’s blood
Puddled neath his body and his toy gun
2020 air still stings my eyes
It’s summer 21, now who will die
Don’t know why some folks continue to hate
And take delight in passing it along
It’s the damnest way to live in this world
Bowtie man telling cute jokes
“Why’d the little negro bring his toy gun to town?
To give police some target practice.”
“Whooowee,” says the bowtie man, “...that little Jimmy’s eatin some crow now.”
Why? Why? Why?... Hell, I don’t know
And he laughs and laughs into the online sky
Bowtie man with the crazy eyes
Living to spread hate as far as he can
He’s the darling of every other Christian man
“When should a black man jog down the street.”
“If he’s in south Georgia... never. “
“How do you celebrate Black History month.”
“Watermelon, breakfast, supper and lunch. Whooo Weeee.”
It’s the damnest way to live in this world
Bowtie man telling cute jokes
“Why’d the little negro bring his toy gun to town?
To give police some target practice.”
“Whooowee,” says the bowtie man, “...that little Jimmy’s eatin some crow now.”
The work of Richard Lawson of Brunswick, Georgia has been published in Fine Lines.