Tantalizing Tragedies
TANTALIZING TRAGEDIES AND USA LIFE Were we sufficiently informed about the classified designs of the NIH, FBI, CIA, CDC, NSA and a few other government agencies, we would flavor each meal or snack with dread. Each tick of the clock would be the noise of a bullet or of an eardrum shattered by a massive explosion; each ballot, an opportunity gone wrong. How normal it would be to burn our absurdly priced garments and footwear and baptize ourselves with those ashes. Without discrimination among genders, ethnicities, and economic status, the posture of Job would be the only posture. Neither "The Star-Spangled Banner" nor "Lift Every Voice and Sing" would ever be heard. Either Dinah Washington's "This Bitter Earth," Curtis Mayfield's "Underground," or Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" would be the anthem of choice. The most revolutionary patriots among us would protest and sing praise hymns for th...