Hat's off to Bento, whose diary earlier today suggested that we sing in response to Teabagger disruptions of town hall meetings this weekend. After watching the video of the Tampa townhall and others, I've become convinced that singing may be the best way to get our message out.
What's our message?
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
I do believe
We shall overcome, some day.
We'll walk hand in hand,
We'll walk hand in hand,
We'll walk hand in hand, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
We shall live in peace,
We shall live in peace,
We shall live in peace, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
We shall all be free,
We shall all be free,
We shall all be free, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
We are not afraid,
We are not afraid,
We are not afraid, TODAY
Oh, deep in my heart,
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome,
We shall overcome, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
I do believe
We shall overcome, some day.
We shall overcome. We will get healthcare reform.
We aren't going to back down. We aren't going to go away. We aren't going to hide. And we aren't going to be baited into shouting and/or shoving matches with the teabaggers so that the media can cover the disruptions and blame "both sides."
We shall overcome.
It's impossible to argue that our side was being violent if we were standing there singing a gospel tune.
Folks, this kind of thing worked over and over during the Civil Rights era. It worked as a peace anthem at Woodstock. It can work again.
Listen to Joan Baez if you don't already know the simple tune.
Print out a bunch of copies of the simple lyrics.
Go to your local townhall meeting early and pass out the lyrics to the reform-minded faithful.
Wait for the Teabaggers' fury to reach a crescendo.
Get up, and start singing.
The great thing about this song is it's so simple, once you get the chorus going you can shout out alternate verses. I modestly offer a couple of suggestions below:
We will get reform,
We will get reform,
We will get reform, some day.
Oh, deep in my heart,
We will heal the sick,
We will heal the sick,
We will heal the sick, some day.
We can do this.
We shall overcome.