Blood at the root

It is a sad fact that the ideals enshrined in the founding of the United States—liberty, equality, justice—were for white men only. And that for more than two centuries those ideals have been largely understood—de jure and de facto—to be for white people only. And that those white men are holding on to that understanding with a death grip.

Mostly the deaths of people of color.

So today—as most of the country prepares to celebrate Independence Day—I’m giving you a quintessentially American song about a quintessentially American pastime.

Sung by Billie Holiday.