The lyrics above are the harrowing opening verse of Strange Fruit, a song that would define 1940's Jazz singer Billie Holiday (Lady Day) as one of the first performers to actively use her status to fight against racial discrimination and white supremacy. Although written by poet Lewis Allen, Holiday transformed the words into her own solemn tale of what she had experienced in her life, remembering whenever performing the song the way her father had tragically died after being refused treatment at a ‘whites only’ hospital in Texas. Although Strange Fruit was considered distasteful and banned from a large majority of radio stations in the US, there was a resounding call to arms between the black community with regards to its anti-lynching message, which in turn sparked riots across the country. Holiday was warned by authorities and music executives to immediately cease performing the song due to its controversial subject matter, but she refused.
This refusal would cost the incredible singer her career and some historians argue her life. Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics had a personal vendetta against Holiday, hounding her throughout her life and even paying an officer to follow and arrest her for heroin possession in 1947. After the singers release from jail eighteen months later in 1949, her cabaret licence was revoked as a result of her imprisonment and her career became increasingly difficult to sustain. Despite this Holiday continued to find ways to perform and would always end her shows with ‘Strange Fruit’, a testament to her determination and resolve in highlighting and protesting the major issue of institutional racism across America. Holidays ‘Strange Fruit’ was a catalyst of change, sparking debate and discussion amongst the American people. It would also become an inspiration to future artists like Nina Simone and Gil Scott Heron who, through Holidays positive influence, wrote their own protest songs centred around similar issues of racial discrimination.
“It was a celebratory moment of black love”
Almost eighty years after Holiday released ‘Strange Fruit', Californian born Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 single ‘Alright’, of the Grammy award winning album 'To Pimp a Butterfly', became the unofficial anthem for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. The origins of its use as a protest song are said to have derived from a Black Lives Movement Conference in 2015 at Cleveland University. During the event, in which attendees were mourning the loss of Sandra Bland, a black woman found dead in her cell following her arrest in Texas after a traffic violation, a conference attendee played ‘Alright’ through the university speakers and the whole room exploded in song. Attendees of the event described it as a “celebratory moment of black love” and from there the songs significance and relationship to the BLM movement grew.
In a previous interview with NPR explaining the songs origins, Lamar stated that the inspiration behind the lyrics had derived from a visit to the Robben Island prison in South Africa and from learning what the prisoners had gone through he was inspired and began researching slavery and the long history of black oppression. “Four hundred years ago, as slaves, we prayed and sung joyful songs to keep our heads level-headed with what was going on," Lamar said. "Four hundred years later, we still need that music to heal. And I think that 'Alright' is definitely one of those records that makes you feel good no matter what the times are.” Both uplifting and aggressive, the song is a message that black people are strong and whatever they face, whatever they go through, they will make it to the other side stronger than before. This message clearly resonated with black communities across the States and the song was soon being chanted repeatedly during BLM protest rallies up and down America, from Washington DC to LA to Detroit. One protestor when asked about the songs significance to the movement explained “It forms as a rallying cry and affirmation that not only ‘we gon be alright’ but the battle continues”.
Kendrick Lamar's intention with ‘Alright’ was never for it to become an anthem for BLM protests around the world, but the songs message of hope and its direct focus on the issue of discrimination Lamar like many others have dealt with because of the colour of their skin catapulted it into one of the most influential protest songs today, and a declaration of war against institutional racism. It is even clearer to see when people are asked why the song means so much to them and the BLM movement that it’s a protest song activists involved in the movement have to believe in, it is an anthem of faith, hope and endurance and it highlights just how important music is in bringing society together in unity against prejudice and bigotry. Without music and artists bringing to light these issues how will we retain awareness and motivation to make positive and just changes in our lives, the media? I think not.
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