CELEBRATE JUNETEENTH! SONGS OF FREEDOM, FIRE AND UPLIFT

Despite the current administration, Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion are American traditions to be cherished, and there are few things that are more DEI than Juneteenth,  We don't need to come out in force in over 2100 American communities but we do need to stand up for history in the hopes that it will not repeat itself.

Here are a few things to listen to today, as suggested by WRTI, a classical and jazz radio station:

Donald Byrd, "Elijah," which evokes the sound of spirituals heard in Black churches across the country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NPchdtfP0Q

Charles Mingus, "Fables of Faubus," a satiric composition directed at Governor Orville Faubus, who called on the National guard in 1957 to prevent integration at Little Rock Central High School.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT2-iobVcdw

John Coltrane, "Alabama," composed in response to the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saN1BwlxJxA

Ursula Rucker, "L.O.V.E." -- a powerful poem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rsl_SSuIGcI

Lionel Loueke, "Freedom Dance" 

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=308425543469590

Max Roach's "We Insist!  Freedom Now Suite," with Abby Lincoln, Coleman Hawkins, and Michael Olatunji.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAzTCfZod4c

and, "We Insist! 2025," with Terri Lynn Carrington & Cjhristie Dasheill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwKS4r_geg8

And the Hardest Working Man in Show Business.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OkMUdi06bg&t=1s