i thought that the most horrible thing about Michael Richards' racist ranting was not the "N" word that the media is so focused on ( see for example "Richards' rant might merit a thank-you". gross.), but what he said about lynching.

so i wanted to post these lyrics to a song that Billie Holiday sang and that a jewish school teacher named Abel Meeropol wrote:


Southern trees bear 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.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.