It hadn't occurred to me before, but this article by Paul Rosenberg on the killing of Trayvon Martin (via the Dylan site Expecting Rain) is a reminder that it's just the kind of case that Bob Dylan would have written a song about back in the campaigning civil rights days of the early Sixties, some fifty years ago. Rosenberg cites "Who Killed Davey Moore", about the boxer, but the slaying of a black youth by a white vigilante, and the lack of interest from the police, surely has more resonance with songs like "Only a Pawn in Their Game" or even "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll". The fact that the killer goes by the name of Zimmerman adds a bizarre twist to the tale.
The times they are not a-changin' as fast as we sometimes like to think.
Al Jazeera?? Zimmerman isn't "white"--he's Hispanic. A Neighborhood Watch group is not a vigilante group--although much can be said to condemn Zimmerman's actions, if only from what I've heard so far. I suggest one should wait until more information develops by investigating what happened before assuming this is a racially motivated killing like days gone by. Spike Lee tweeted Zimmerman's supposed address to his friends who retweeted it throughout an angry black community. A form of incitement. Unfortunately it was the address of a now terrified elderly couple. There is now a lynch mob mentality happening that strikes me as striking the very reverse tone of the old Dylan standards from days gone by, songs that were done after the facts were in (although even details behind "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" have been called into question. ) I love your blog and read it every day and I love Dylan, but I think a little circumspection is necessary until investigations are carried further. cheers.
Posted by: Jon Erickson | March 29, 2012 at 12:33 AM