|
An Eye for an Eye
by Thomas Kilts
About the Song:
"Literally 12 hours after the execution of Tookie
Williams, I was sitting in my garage with my ukulele and I wrote this
song. The title comes from a saying I believe Ghandi once said: "An
eye for an eye leaves us both blind." I remember waiting for the final
decision from our Governor and reading in the BBC about the political
considerations of a pardon. It sickened me because I was familiar with
Tookie Williams and his children's books and the positive impact on
the community they had. After the execution I just felt sad that there
seemed no room for redemption in our society and the absurd idea of
punishing violence with violence seemed insane, at least to me. In the
context of the blatant racism that was exposed in this country after
the Katrina hurricane,Tookie's executation was yet another reminder
of the blindness in this country. The eyes help us to see, but we choose
sometimes to keep them shut. Tookie Williams did horrible things in
his life, but in his journey he decided to open his eyes and help others
in his community open their eyes as well. In the Eastern spiritual traditions
there is the notion of the mind's eye and how it, when opened, can see
the inter-connectedness of all things. With the execution of Tookie
Williams we neglected that 'eye,' too." -- Thomas Kilts
Lyrics:
I wait for the pouring rain
to blend with all my tears. It's been 12 hours, since they put him down. How do we, how do we, how do we? How do we justify? The night they killed, Tookie Williams I tossed and turned all night. They forgot about redemption. How are we supposed to carry on?
Some people called it justice.
Some people wanted it done.
Where oh where do we go with this? Where oh where do we go... With this... We don't need some savior We just need some common sense. Some ask, what's the grief for? An eye for an eye leaves us both blind An eye for an eye leaves us both blind An eye for an eye leaves us both blind.
|