Abel Meeropol wrote a song that Billie Holiday made famous, called "Strange Fruit". It was inspired (if we can use that word in so grisly a context) by a picture of a lynching that Meeropol could not get out of his head.
Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.
Pastoral scene of the gallant South,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,
And the sudden smell of burning flesh!
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.
Abel Meeropol and his wife Anne Meeropol also adopted Robert (6) and Michael (10) after their parents, Julius and Ethyl Rosenberg, were executed for conspiring to give atomic secrets to the Soviet Union.
Writing and releasing the song was an act of extraordinary courage. So was adopting the two boys. Even the boys' own close relatives were afraid to be too closely associated with them, for fear of repercussions. Abel and Anne adopted them, and brought them up in a loving and lively home.
Love can overcome hate. Light can overcome darkness. A few good people can change the world, even if sometimes it is only by a little bit.
Name the evil that you see. Challenge the evil that you see. At least talk about it with a few friends. Let them know that you know that it is not okay.
Black lives matter.
Tell one person who does not understand why this is a big deal. Or pick something else. Start someplace. Be the change that you want to see in the world. Pick a first step, or even if you have already journeyed a thousand miles from where you started, pick a next step. Even if you never see the end of the journey, just as in the Bible Moses never entered the "Promised Land" after forty years of wandering in the desert, choose another step, and take another step.
Black lives matter.
What next step can you take, to make this more than just a slogan?
Who is needed to make change happen? Each of us.
When does change need to happen? Now. Each day. Until black lives do matter.