The Meaning of the Song "Blackbird" by the Beatles. It's about Racism and The Civil Rights Struggles in the USA in 1968.

Listen to the Song: 

https://youtu.be/Man4Xw8Xypo?si=xLqzBhk-EmaFlSxu

Are you familiar with the song “Blackbird” by The Beatles? Most of us are, but few know the REAL meaning behind it…

Paul McCartney was visiting America. He was sitting, resting, when he heard a woman screaming. He looked up to see a Black woman being surrounded by the police. The police had her handcuffed, and were beating her.

He thought the woman had committed a terrible crime, only to find out that "the crime" she committed was to sit in a section reserved for whites.

Paul was shocked. There was no segregation in England. But, here in America, the land of freedom, this is how Blacks were being treated.

McCartney and the Beatles went back home to England, but he would remember what he saw, how he felt, the unfairness of it all.

He also remembered watching television and following the news in America, the race riots and what was happening in Little Rock, Arkansas, what was going on in the Civil Rights movement.

He saw the picture of 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford attempt to attend classes at Little Rock Central High School as an angry mob followed her, yelling, "Drag her over this tree! Let's take care of that n**ger!'" and “Lynch her! Lynch her!” “No n**ger b*tch is going to get in our school!”

McCartney couldn't believe this was happening in America.

He thought of these women being mistreated, simply because of the color of her skin. He sat down and started writing.

Last year at a concert, he would meet two of the women who inspired him to write one of his most memorable songs, Thelma Mothershed Wair and Elizabeth Eckford, members of the Little Rock Nine (pictured here).

McCartney would tell the audience he was inspired by the courage of these women: "Way back in the Sixties, there was a lot of trouble going on over civil rights, particularly in Little Rock. We would notice this on the news back in England, so it's a really important place for us, because to me, this is where civil rights started. We would see what was going on and sympathize with the people going through those troubles, and it made me want to write a song that, if it ever got back to the people going through those troubles, it might just help them a little bit, and that's this next one."

He explained that when he started writing the song, he had in mind a Black woman, but in England, "girls" were referred to as "birds." And, so the song started:

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting
for this moment to arise."

McCartney added that he and the Beatles cared passionately about the Civil Rights movement, "so this was really a song from me to a Black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: ‘Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope.’

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting
for this moment to be free."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackbird_(Beatles_song)

McCartney has given various statements regarding both his inspiration for the song and its meaning.^[2] He has said that he was inspired by hearing the call of a blackbird one morning when the Beatles were studying Transcendental Meditation in Rishikesh, India and also ^[3] writing it in Scotland as a response to racial tensions escalating in the United States during the spring of 1968.^[4]

Police on the Wrong Side of History... Often They Fight In Favor of EVIL... Beating Up Black People That Wanted to Vote... Anti-War Protesters... Arresting People for Marijuana... Why Do They Behave Crazy?

Ever Wonder What it Must Be Like to Be One of Those People? Dedicating Your Life to Preventing Black People from Voting... Strange!

Police Beating Up People Protesting Against the Vietnam War... You would have to be a Special Style of Stupid to think the Vietnam War Should be CONTINUED... "Let's Send MORE People to Die for Nothing! Whee!"

CAMP - The Campaign Against Marijuana Planting - Was a Total Failure -  now Marijuana is Legal but MANY people are still in Jail for Farming... #CrazyLawsSUCK

Murder of George Floyd by Policeman. 

Who Later went to Prison...

Sometimes it goes beyond the police and the National Guard Does EVIL... 

and It's World Wide... 

Tank Man in China Protest Tienanmen Square

and in Paris, The Government wants to Raise Retirement age fro 62 to 64... So the Police Attack!

There was ONE Time that the Police Were Actually In Favor of GOOD and Opposed to EVIL... January 6th at the US Capitol... Over a Thousand TrumpNiks® Were Arrested for Attempting to Overthrow the USA and Crown Trump King. THEY FAILED!

and here we are on March 19th, 2023 and Trump is Predicting he will be arrested Two Days from Now... and He's Calling for His Supporters to PROTEST! TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY!!!

Will we have ANOTHER 1,000 TrumpNiks® Arrested? That Would Be WONDERFUL... Maybe 2,000... That would be Even Better!

SNCC Benefit Speech at My Parent's Home in Los Gatos, CA - In the Sixties, They Raised Funds to Pay for Freedom Riders in the South. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

I Remember That We Had a Black Man Talk. My Folks PACKED The House With People and Took Donations. 

In General, The Civil Rights Movement was Successful. President Lyndon Johnson Signed Laws That Allowed Black People to Vote and Live in White Neighborhoods. My Parents Helped!

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/johnson-signs-civil-rights-act

Years Later I Bought a Condo in a Black Neighborhood near Washington DC. There was a DEEP DISCOUNT if You Chose a Black Neighborhood. The Same Condo in Virginia cost $39,000 but in Beautiful Oxon Hill, Maryland the Price was $26,000. It Turns Out That the Peter, Paul and Mary Lyric is Accurate. "They Say that Property Values Will Go Right Down if The Family Next Door is Blue." --- I Selected the Discount. Because I Don't Care What Color My Neighbors Are. at Least I'm Not Going to PAY EXTRA For White Neighbors... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SywxNX6u_s

Of Course, Racism is Accurate... You CAN Predict Peoples Behavior by Looking at Skin Color. FOR EXAMPLE: Black Men are Better at Playing Basketball. It Would Be Absurd to Have Affirmative Action in the NBA... Help for Short People So They Could Compete with Tall People... Help for Slow Runners Who Can't Jump... So We Would Have a "Fair" Balance of Players... BUT... We Don't Do That... Because Affirmative Action is [REDACTED - FACEBOOK COMMUNITY STANDARDS] 

White Man are Better at Walking on the Moon... White Men Are Better at Being President of the United States... White Men are Better at Inventing Machines... After All, Apple and Microsoft and Google and Facebook and IBM and Oracle are All Built by White Men... 

In the Department of Defense, Affirmative Action is TOTALLY IGNORED in Jobs That are IMPORTANT... My First Ex-Wife Worked at The National Security Agency. The ONLY Thing They Considered Was Quality of the Applicant When They Were Hiring. They Were Totally Colorblind... AND They Were Gay Friendly because Gay People are FAMOUS for Being Excellent at Computer Science. But You Had to Be "Out of the Closet!" - People That Tried to Hide their Homosexuality were Rejected for being a Blackmail Risk. And Marijuana Smokers Were Tolerated as Long as You Told the Truth About Your Drug Use History. LIARS were Not Welcome... 

If You Investigate CRIME Patters By Location in the FBI Database... You Will Find that Murders Happen More Frequently in Black Neighborhoods... There are Many REASONS Why this is True but NO ONE Disputes That It IS TRUE... That Condo I Bought was about Three Miles from "Southeast DC" - at One time the Murder Capitol of America. It was in Competition with "East Palo Alto, CA" and "The South Side of Chicago." - Remember the Song Bad Bad Leroy Brown by Jim Croce... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwPRm5UMe1A

Barack Obama worked as a Community Organizer on the South Side of Chicago... No Need For a Community Organizer on Lakeshore Drive... I Read Obama's Biography and It's Great! https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/88061.Dreams_from_My_Father

He had a White Mother and a Black Father Who Moved to Africa when Obama was a Child. Obama was Raised By Two White Grandparents and His Mom. In Hawaii he was Exposed to Japanese Culture and Native Hawaiian Culture. He Also Lived With His Mother's Second Husband In Indonesia... 

So... In the Age Old Question of "Nature vs Nurture" ---

Genetically, Obama was 50-50 Black and White. But CULTURALLY He Had No Contact With Black People. He Was Raise With Mostly White Values... 

I Had a Question While Reading That Book... WHO PAID OBAMA TO ORGANIZE THAT COMMUNITY? 

When you stop to THINK About It... Who Benefits? For Example: I Would Pay a Person to Install a New Roof on my House... and I Would Pay a Person to Calculate my Income Taxes... and I Would Pay a Person to Unclog the Kitchen Sink... 

But I Would Never Pay Someone to ORGANIZE A COMMUNITY! What Does That Job ACTUALLY DO? 

After a Lot of Internet Research I Found the Answer. The Catholic Church... They Paid His Salary and The Rent on the Office... It's a Part of The MISSION STATEMENT of the Church to Help the Poor... Just Like Buying Desks for School Children in Africa... or Buying Food and Medicine for Poor People in Central America... THAT'S WHAT THEY DO!

Obama - Biden - Hillary - in the war room on the Day
Osama bin Laden was Killed

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-side-effect-of-joe-bidens-1994-crime.html

A Side Effect of Joe Biden's 1994 Crime Bill That Caused Mass Incarceration of Black Men is... Eugenics... Genocide... REALLY!

Millions of Incarcerated Black Men Did Not Father Children. Causing a Great Whitening of The Population because Black Genes Were Locked UP.  

Women Selected White Men to Father Their Children BY DEFAULT. The Men Available are Mostly White, Hispanic, Oriental etc etc etc... This is an Example of GENOCIDE... Years ago it was Called Eugenics... Whatever... White Genes were passed on to the Next Generation While Black Genes Were Prevented...

READ MORE: Click Here!

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2019/07/great-book-americas-bogus-wars-since.html

AMERICA'S BOGUS WARS [Since 1945, The US Military Has Never Defended The Country, Not Even Once]

Ever since VJ Day (Victory in Japan), All of Our Wars have been Marketing to Sell Weapons for the Military Industrial Complex. One time there was a Need to Defend the Country and The Military Failed Completely. Civilians took down the Airplane in Pennsylvania on 9/11/2001. 

Read a Book - My Favorites

Often The USA chooses sides in Someone Else's Civil War, Gets Real Excited about Fighting Communism (or whatEVER) and then We Get Bored, Retreat, Lose and the Total Effect is ZERO. 

For Example: READ MORE! Click Here!

https://purple64ets.wordpress.com/2021/03/07/sncc-benefit-speech-at-my-parents-home-in-los-gatos-ca/

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Here is a Link to Another Website of Mine: Google Sites...

https://sites.google.com/view/gregoryvanderlaan/Home

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Presidents George W Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama Delivered Tributes to John Lewis... Where was The tRUMPSTER? Hiding in a Bunker?

Great Biography Movie: Heather Booth. A 1960s Civil rights activist who organized protests about Vietnam, Women's Liberation.

http://heatherbooththefilm.com/ An inspirational film about a person that made a difference in the world thru activism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_Booth

She founded a school and taught how to become a community organizer.
Campaigned for Mayor Harold Washington in Chicago.

My Parents had a SNCC fundraiser at our house during the 1960s. Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

 A Black Man gave a speech about The Civil Rights Movement and we sold admission tickets. Many people attended and the house was packed. In general, my parents were opposed to racism. Los Gatos had VERY few Black people but Many Mexican Americans and Orientals.

I remember watching the Television News. Black and White films of The MOON Landing and The  Police Riots at the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968. "The Whole World is Watching" chanted the Anti-War Protesters... Television was a new invention and bringing news films into the living rooms of America helped end the Vietnam War. The Moon Landing was kind of dissapointing as the film was grainy and dark... What a whiner I am...

I also enjoyed Rowan and Martin's Laugh In and That Was The Week That Was (a satire of the news).

Read more of my Autobiography at: http://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/03/growing-up-in-los-gatos-california-in.html