Stephanie Tubbs Jones: “They say some things bear repeating. These words bear repeating. Southern trees bear strange fruit, Blood on the leaves…”

“They say some things bear repeating. These words bear repeating. 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. The words of a songstress, but the words of the South, the words of African Americans from across this country and other ethnic groups. Seeing somehow in America we have begun to believe that this conduct is acceptable, that we can hang nooses, we can do crosses, we can do all kinds of things against people without believing that it has some impact or that it can hurt. It hurts like a knife. It cuts like a knife. My mama from Alabama, my daddy from Alabama, my in-laws from Georgia, Alabama; the stories go on and on about how terrible nooses can and have been. America, this is the Congress saying our sense is that this is terrible conduct and that it should be criminalized. But, America, wake up. What if it were you that got the noose. What if it was your grandfather or grandmother that was hung.”