Emmett Till, ‘Strange Fruit,’ and the stench of political mendacity

“Southern trees bear a strange fruit / Blood on the leaves and blood at the root / Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze / Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.” When Billie Holiday sang those words in 1939 she evoked the forlorn pain of black America, living constantly in the shadow of the …

Celebrate true patriotism this weekend

  It’s Memorial Day weekend, which means it’s time to dust off those flags in the back of the closet, fire up the grill and indulge in our annual orgy of patriotic fervor. It is appropriate to honor our nation’s fallen service men and women, and to thank veterans, especially those permanently damaged by war in body, …