Het verhaal van een jonge, zwarte man uit Mississippi die abusievelijk denkt dat New York Het Beloofde Land is. Zijn ouders werken keihard om hem naar New York te kunnen sturen waar hem een beter leven wacht, maar eenmaal in New York aangekomen blijft er van die droom weinig over. Hij maakt meteen na aankomst kennis met de New Yorkse politie (gimme your hands up, you punk!) waar men er opvattingen op nahoudt die het slachtoffer ongetwijfeld bekend voor komen (Come on, come on, get in that cell, nigger). Het eindigt allemaal in tranen, met een bestaan als dakloze in de mean streets van New York.
Miljoenen zwarte Amerikanen verhuisden in de loop van de vorige eeuw van het platteland in het Zuiden naar de grote steden in het Noorden – met name naar Chicago, Detroit en New York – in de hoop daar werk te vinden en te ontsnappen aan de discriminatie en het racisme die in het Zuiden welig tierden. Dat werk vinden lukte vaak wel – het aantal zwarte mensen dat in de zware industrie werkte steeg tussen 1910 en 1920 van 500.000 naar ruim 900.000 – maar ook in het Noorden werden ze geconfronteerd met armoede en segregatie (ook al mocht je het officieel niet zo noemen). Een structurele verbetering in de arbeids- en levensomstandigheden deed zich pas voor in de jaren ’30(!) en met name in de eerste jaren na de Tweede Wereldoorlog, met het ontstaan van de eerste multi-etnische vakbonden.
Ook daarna bleef er uiteraard veel te wensen over, vooral toen de zware industrie in grote steden als Detroit het loodje legde (of vertrok naar groenere weiden), met als gevolg een torenhoge werkloosheid in met name zwarte wijken.
A boy is born in hard time Mississippi
Surrounded by four walls that ain’t so pretty
His parents give him love and affection
To keep him strong moving in the right direction
Living just enough, just enough for the city
His father works some days for fourteen hours
And you can bet he barely makes a dollar
His mother goes to scrub the floors for many
And you’d best believe she hardly gets a penny
Living just enough, just enough for the city, yeah
His sister’s black but she is sho’ ‘nuff pretty
Her skirt is short but Lord her legs are sturdy
To walk to school she’s got to get up early
Her clothes are old but never are they dirty
Living just enough, just enough for the city
Mm, her brother’s smart he’s got more sense than many
His patience’s long but soon he won’t have any
To find a job is like a haystack needle
‘Cause where he lives they don’t use colored people
Living just enough, just enough for the city, yeah
Living just enough for the city
Living for the city, yeah
Oh, living just enough for the city
Ain’t nothin’ for the city
Oh, living just enough for the city
Living for the city, yeah, yeah
Oh, living just enough for the city
The lessons of the city
Oh, living just enough for the city
Living for the city, yeah, yeah
Oh, living just enough for the city
The funky, cruddy city
Oh, living just enough for the city
I’m living for the city, yeah, yeah
Oh, living just enough for the city
For a nothing, nothing, city
Oh, living just enough for the city
Every body clap your hand, it’s going down
Oh, living just enough for the city
Mm-hmm, for the city, yeah
Oh, living just enough for the city
Hmm, for the city, yeah
Oh, living just enough for the city
For the city, yeah
Oh, living just enough for the city
For the city
“Bus going to New York City”
“Hey, bus driver I’m getting on there, hold it”
“Thanks a lot”
“Wow
New York, just like I pictured it
God straightened everything”
“Psst, hey, hey, brother
Hey, come here flick
Yeah, you look, you look hip man
Hey you wanna make your self five bucks man?”
“Yeah brother I just came into town”
“Look here, run this across the street for me right quick, okay?
Run it across the street for me”
“Hey, what?
Huh? I didn’t know
What? I’m just going across the street
“Shut your mouth”
“Oh no, what I do?”
“Okay turn around, turn around
Put your hands behind your back lets go, lets go”
“A jury of your peers having found you guilty ten years”
“What?”
“Come on, come on, get in that cell nigger”
“My God, no”
His hair is long, his feet are hard and gritty
He spends his life walking the streets of New York City
He’s almost dead from breathing in air pollution
He tried to vote but to him there’s no solution
Living just enough, just enough for the city yeah, yeah, yeah
I hope you hear inside my voice of sorrow
And that it motivates you to make a better tomorrow
This place is cruel no where could be much colder
If we don’t change the world will soon be over
Living just enough, stop giving just enough for the city
Uitgelichte afbeelding: The Arthur family arrived at Chicago’s Polk Street Depot on August 30, 1920, during the Great Migration. – By undetermined; published in The Chicago Defender on September 4, 1920 – https://www.chicagotribune.com/columns/dahleen-glanton/ct-texas-lynching-anniversary-chicago-family-20200713-ygnumlu6svdk5ek5rdi6zmjeq4-story.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=94326938
