tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939909775405220345.post2606170131090858137..comments2024-03-01T10:16:11.283-08:00Comments on AmericanStudies: January 22, 2014: Civil Rights Histories: Murders in MississippiAmericanStudierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06483077716534996778noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939909775405220345.post-35171553673424607202014-01-22T06:46:29.759-08:002014-01-22T06:46:29.759-08:00Thanks! I had totally forgotten about that song, I...Thanks! I had totally forgotten about that song, Ian--a very relevant one, and definitely a strong example of art trying to grapple with these questions.AmericanStudierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06483077716534996778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3939909775405220345.post-71002112139033134552014-01-22T06:30:42.783-08:002014-01-22T06:30:42.783-08:00Your assertions about the communal nature of that ...Your assertions about the communal nature of that which precipitates such things is very important and so often overlooked (I think because it is more complex, and in difficult times we seek easy answers like pointing the finger at a few instead of understanding the tacit (or not-so-tacit) participation of the many). To my mind one of the works which best presents this facet of these kinds of issues is Bob Dylan's "Only A Pawn in Their Game" from the 1964 album *The Times They Are A'Changin'*, a song in response to the murder of Medgar Evers. While this song specifically deals with the power structure in the South and the ways in which it manipulated the overall political and cultural climate there, it also suggests that the specific identity of the man whose "finger fired the trigger" is unimportant in terms of assessing the situation, that it was a system, a community of sorts, which put whatever it was in the killer's brain that urged him to commit such an act. This way of broadly contextualizing something so tragic and painful is not the easy response, but it is important and holds much truth.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13160178553626197629noreply@blogger.com