Billie Holiday — A Rare Live Recording of Billie Holiday
I will never know what it is like to live in the world of “Strange Fruit.”
I will never understand that level of fear; I will never comprehend the risk, the tragic art of constantly watching over one’s shoulder, the burden of oppression and the consequences of fighting it.
I will never worry about what it’s like to be mobbed, torn from a jail — the only place that felt safe — and hanged. I will never know any of that.
I will never know how to handle the rhetoric of racism, of subscribing to a hard line when life is nothing but nuance, and I will never know how to raise children in an environment designed to wear them down and kill them, and I will never know how to sing with so much pain because I will never know so much pain. I will never know that kind of pain.
I will never be very good at trying to empathize because I will never know what it is like to live in the world of “Strange Fruit.”
All I can do is ask more questions. To listen. To make change where I can. To understand that this is everyone’s fight but it’s not my fight. I am but a bit player — not the target of oppression, not a symbol of oppression, but a small supporting part in the chorus, an ensemble player hoping to help where I can and stay out of the way.
I will never worry about these things. More than that, though, I will never fully comprehend how I can help, outside of raising my children right and confronting hateful speech when I can.
I will never know what it is like to live in the world of “Strange Fruit.” But I will forever know that there are people who still live in the world of “Strange Fruit.” And over time, I will get better at knowing my place in this discussion. And over time, I will see the world change. And until then. Until then. I just keep trying to comprehend the pain.
