Imagine, petty censorship by a major network on such an occasion!
Martin Luther King quoted the lyric in his last speech in Memphis before he would be assassinated, Kings last public words ended with the opening lyrics of the anthem, "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." He didn't see the coming of James Earl Ray
So it can be risky to preach the message of the unity today. In England, the Manchester United football club uses a version as its fight song.
In the the US, this battle hymm was downgraded into parody to celebrate the lives of garment workers as in the "Battle of Harry Lewis. "
"His name was Harry Lewis, and he worked for Irving Roth/He died while cutting velvet on a hot July the Fourth ", and "Oh Harry Lewis perished / In the Service of his Lord / He was trampling through the warehouse / Where the Drapes of Roth are stored."
Oy!
And so goes that journey in which great ideas are turned on their heads before being turned into a joke.
News Dissector Danny Schechter directed the film Plunder The Crime Of Our Time (plunderthecrimeofourtime.com) He blogs at newsdissector.com.
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