Sam Cookes debut single, You Send Me, made it to number one on the pop charts in 1957, and he went on to record many hit singles and albums over the next few years. He set up his own label for his records and his own publishing company for the songs he wrote. After he and his entourage were turned away from a Whites Only hotel in Louisiana, Cooke wrote A Change is Gonna Come. This was at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, and it was probably the momentum of the movement that gave him hope that change was coming. But he was killed in an altercation with a hotel manager before the song was released and before the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that ended legal segregation. I am very moved by this song because I identify with the feeling of hope that comes after long years of discouragement. I started trying to save the world in 1965 when, as a college freshman, I joined Students for a Democratic Society. Over the years I joined other movements, and wrote two books. But the movements fizzled out and I couldnt get the books published. Ive always wanted the kinds of changes that would make protests and demonstration and piecemeal reforms unnecessary. Ive wanted to live in a society that is able to recognize right and wrong, justice and injustice, without having to be pushed to do the right thing. Right now, both in the US and around the world, things look pretty bleak. But I can see hope in trends that dont make the mainstream news. Non-Governmental Organizations and non-profits are sprouting up all over the world to fill in the gaps where the private sector and governments fall short. Regular businesses are required by law to focus primarily on the interests of investors, but many of them are somehow engaging in corporate social responsibility initiatives and the new B-Corporations are allowed to balance profit-making with concerns for the communities within which they operate, and the environmental impact of their operations. Most promising to me is a growing focus on collaborative efforts that bring together public agencies, private companies and social sector organizations to solve social and environmental problems. Most of this is flying under the radar of sensation-seeking mainstream media, but it is happening, and I find it to be very promising. youtu.be/gbO2_077ixs
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 03:06:20 +0000
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