A group of white “racial justice” activists in Massachusetts recently rewrote popular Christmas carols to be about racism and are singing them in the Boston area. La De Da
“Oh, the Trump-ocalypse is frightful,” one carol begins, to the tune of “Let It Snow.” “All this violence more than spiteful/But when justice is dealt a blow/We’ll say ‘no,’ we’ll say ‘no,’ we’ll say ‘no!’”
The carols are the work of the Boston branch of Showing Up For Racial Justice (SURJ), an organization that attempts to mobilize white people to support activist movements like Black Lives Matter. Members of the group gathered Dec. 10 in Boston to sing their carols and give a political edge to the Christmas season.
While singing, the group handed out fliers to passing shoppers that provided suggestions for how they can take action against racism in the holiday season.
“Silent Whites?”
“Tis the season to disrupt racism!” the flier says. It encourages recipients to take part in “arts-based organizing, accessibility, housing justice, anti-racism education, and more.”
The collection of modified carols can be seen on a Google document that is, for the time, publicly visible.
One of the carols, “Silent Whites,” was originally performed two months ago by another Boston-area group, and goes as follows:
Silent Whites.
So much fright.
Don’t we/you know
Things ain’t right?
Check your privilege,
Save your tears.
Join the fight
And face your fears.
We/You will never be free…
Till all Black people are free.
Though we all have hurt someone
Only some of us do time
Punishment for poverty
IT just doesn’t fit the crime
Raa-a-a-a-a-aaa-a-a-a-a-aaa-a-a-a-a-a-cism
Mass Incarceration
Prisons now have multiplied
A new form of slavery
Victims of the war on drugs
Scapegoats of society
Raa-a-a-a-a-aaa-a-a-a-a-aaa-a-a-a-a-a-cism
Mass Incarceration
Jesus wanted captives free, And he was a pris’ner too
Prison abolition now. It’s the moral thing to do!
Juu-u-u-u-u-uuu-u-u-u-u-uuu-u-u-u-u-ustice. Prison abolition!
Aa-a-a-a-a-aaa-a-a-a-a-aaa-a-a-a-a-a-bolition. Restorative Justice NOW!
According to SURJ Boston, other groups have stepped forward and expressed a desire to sing the new racialized Christmas carols.