The importance of Billie Holiday in 2010

Just days after posting the Hump Day Hitslist dedicated to American political songs in the wake of the U.S. mid-term elections, this piece was published in the Toronto Star, a prominent Canadian newspaper.  Writing about a recent wave of insensitive, belligerent, and downright bigoted incidents in which citizens had used symbols from the Ku Klux Klan in ill-advised attempts at humour, or worse, author Royson James pleads with his readers that they refer to Billie Holiday's powerful and affecting song, "Stange Fruit", to understand the seriousness of these racist symbols. A gripping exposé of the mid-century lynchings of African-Americans in the southern United States, "Strange Fruit", was featured in the most recent finger on the steam playlist for its historical gravitas; a fact only further evidenced by James' news piece. 

“Pastoral scene of the gallant South/ The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth/ Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh/ Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.”