This Land

Woody Guthrie wrote 'This Land Is Your Land' 75 years ago today. This song evokes something from my Oklahoma roots and has an affective pull on my heart. It encapsulates my views of pluralism-- critical, skeptical, and justice-oriented. Often, just the first few verses are played and it seems like a folksy patriotic tune. But the heart of the song comes in the later verses, one of which is rarely included:

"As I went walking I saw a sign there
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing"
But on the other side it didn't say nothing
That side was made for you and me

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people
By the relief office I seen my people
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

Nobody living can ever stop me
As I go walking that freedom highway
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me"



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Anti-Racism in Community Based Education

In November 2017, I organized and presented on a panel on “Teaching about Religion as Anti-racism Education” at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion in Boston. That panel eventually led to a special issue of the Religious Studies News Spotlight on Teaching. You can find the full issue here: https://rsn.aarweb.org/spotlight-on/teaching/anti-racism/editors-introduction My piece, "Anti-Racism in Community Based Education, " is here . In it, I describe the methodological framework that shapes IDCL's programming.
Read more

September 11, 15 Years Later

This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/september-11-15-years-later_us_57d56bc1e4b0eb9a57b7ad1d Co-authored with Amanda Quraishi The events of September 11, 2001 are seared into the hearts and minds of many Americans. Most adults probably remember where they were when they heard about the planes crashing into the Twin Towers and the Towers collapsing. Many of us watch these events replayed on TV with a visceral lump in our throats or knot in our guts. The loss of so many lives, so suddenly and unexpectedly, is a bewildering tragedy that Americans have been trying to make sense of for a decade and a half now. Each year, we memorialize this day to remember these 2,996 individuals and insist that their deaths not be in vain. American children today have no memory of these events. They probably don’t realize that September 11, 2001 changed us. They’ve grown up in a country that can no longer pretend to be an island unto itself. And
Read more

Houston Arabic Immersion Magnet School Faces Bigots

Image
This post originally appeared on the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tiffany-puett/houston-arabic-immersion-bigots_b_8074516.html? As the school year began last Monday, Houston’s new Arabic Immersion Magnet School saw the first day marked by discriminatory, xenophobic protests. The public elementary school is among a number of schools with a dual language curriculum in the Houston Independent School District. While other schools offer a Spanish - English or Chinese - English curriculum, this is the first Arabic - English program in Houston and among the first in the nation. The school’s mission focuses on cultural awareness and creating “competent global citizens.” For most children at the school, Arabic will be their second or third language.
Read more