Related+Texts,+Music,+Poetry


 * If you find a related text--song, speech, poem please feel free to post here for the class. Make sure the content is appropriate :)

"The Perils of Indifference"--Elie Wiesel, 1999 Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech media type="youtube" key="LqFIEeK0Jyg" height="385" width="480"** Excerpt from speech: "What is indifference? Etymologically, the word means "no difference." A strange and unnatural state in which the lines blur between light and darkness, dusk and dawn, crime and punishment, cruelty and compassion, good and evil. What are its courses and inescapable consequences? Is it a philosophy? Is there a philosophy of indifference conceivable? Can one possibly view indifference as a virtue? Is it necessary at times to practice it simply to keep one's sanity, live normally, enjoy a fine meal and a glass of wine, as the world around us experiences harrowing upheavals? Of course, indifference can be tempting -- more than that, seductive. It is so much easier to look away from victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams, our hopes. It is, after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in another person's pain and despair. Yet, for the person who is indifferent, his or her neighbor are of no consequence. And, therefore, their lives are meaningless. Their hidden or even visible anguish is of no interest. Indifference reduces the other to an abstraction." Full speech: []

media type="youtube" key="UdcvNnAaGbs" height="385" width="480" Tracy Chapman--"Across the Lines"

Tracy Chapman Across The Lines lyrics
Across the lines Who would dare to go Under the bridge Over the tracks That separates whites from blacks

Choose sides Run for your lifes Tonight the riots begin On the back streets of america They kill the dream of america

Little black girl gets assaulted Ainâ€™t no reason why Newspaper prints the story And racist tempers fly Next day it starts a riot Knives and guns are drawn Two black boys get killed One white boy goes blind

Across the lines Who would dare to go Under the bridge Over the tracks That separates whites from blacks

Choose sides Run for your lives Tonight the riots begin On the back streets of America They kill the dream of America

Little black girl gets assaulted Don't no one know her name Lots of people hurt and angry She's the one to blame

Across the lines Who would dare to go Under the bridge Over the tracks That separates whites from blacks

Choose sides Run for your lives Tonight the riots begin On the back streets of America They kill the dream of America

Langston Hughes

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Langston Hughes and The Harlem Renaissance []

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Poet Maya Angelou "The Power of Words"

//Poem by Dr. Maya Angelou (link to her website// [|//http://mayaangelou.com///]//)//
 * Human Family**

I note the obvious differences in the human family. Some of us are serious, some thrive on comedy.

Some declare their lives are lived as true profundity, and others claim they really live the real reality.

The variety of our skin tones can confuse, bemuse, delight, brown and pink and beige and purple, tan and blue and white.

I've sailed upon the seven seas and stopped in every land. I've seen the wonders of the world, not yet one common man.

I know ten thousand women called Jane and Mary Jane, but I've not seen any two who really were the same.

Mirror twins are different although their features jibe, and lovers think quite different thoughts while lying side by side.

We love and lose in China, we weep on England's moors, and laugh and moan in Guinea, and thrive on Spanish shores.

We seek success in Finland, are born and die in Maine. In minor ways we differ, in major we're the same.

I note the obvious differences between each sort and type, but we are more alike, my friends than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.

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 * Head Full of Doubt **—Avett Brothers

There’s a darkness upon me that’s flooded in light In the fine print they tell me what’s wrong and what’s right And it comes in black and it comes in white And I’m frightened by those that don’t see it

When nothing is owed or deserved or expected And your life doesn’t change by the man that’s elected If you’re loved by someone, you’re never rejected Decide what to be and go be it

There was a dream and one day I could see it Like a bird in a cage I broke in and demanded that somebody free it And there was a kid with a head full of doubt So I’ll scream til I die and the last of those bad thoughts are finally out

There’s a darkness upon you that’s flooded in light And in the fine print they tell you what’s wrong and what’s right And it flies by day and it flies by night And I’m frightened by those that don’t see it

There was a dream and one day I could see it Like a bird in a cage I broke in and demanded that somebody free it And there was a kid with a head full of doubt So I’ll scream til I die and the last of those bad thoughts are finally out

There was a dream and one day I could see it Like a bird in a cage I broke in and demanded that somebody free it And there was a kid with a head full of doubt So I’ll scream til I die and the last of those bad thoughts are finally out

There’s a darkness upon me that’s flooded in light In the fine print they tell me what’s wrong and what’s right There’s a darkness upon me that’s flooded in light And I’m frightened by those that don’t see it