Red Cross the Disciple Of Christ Today
Allgemeines
Das Lied Red Cross the Disciple Of Christ Today wurde von Moses Mason (Künstlername: Red Hot Ole Man Mose, aus Lake Providence in Louisiana, USA) komponiert, getextet und 1928 in einer Solo-Aufnahme mit ihm veröffentlicht. Anlass waren die verheerende Mississippiflut in 1927, die mehrere amerikanische Bundesstaaten betraf, und die Hilfeleistungen durch das Amerikanische Rote Kreuz.
Das Lied erinnert an die biblische Geschichte der Wundersamen Brotvermehrung, dem Wunder der Speisung der Fünftausend (And when they were hungry, Jesus Christ took five, five little loaves and three little fishes and fed five thousand), und vergleicht es mit der Betreuung von Flüchtlingen durch das Amerikanische Rote Kreuz (the Red Cross, a disciple of Christ […] food to feed the suffering humanity, just what Christ was to the world). Eine weitere Passage könnte als Bezug zum Suchdienst verstanden werden (I saw the Red Cross when whe heard the cry of men and women that was runned out of their home — I heard, I heared, ah, men crying. "Where is my son?" Women crying, "Where is my daughter?"), sofern es eine solche Tätigkeit im Rahmen der Katastrophenhilfe gab.
Das Lied ignoriert, dass das Amerikanische Rote Kreuz den späteren Grundsatz der Unparteilichkeit verletzte, indem es nach ethnischer Herkunft bzw. Erscheinungsbild getrennte Flüchtlingslager einrichtete und die Arbeitseinsätze der Flüchtlinge mit dunkler Hautfarbe duldete oder gar mit organisierte: Black refugees were forced to perform the heavy labor that supported the camps and were barred from escaping by National Guard members, who oversaw their work with guns at the ready. Whereas white refugees were placed in indoor facilities, black refugees were detained in outdoor camps on the levee and systematically denied adequate food and shelter, with little promise of their homes ever being rebuilt.1
Liedtext
My subject will be the Mississippi flood of Nineteen and Twenty-Seven. My text will be "The Red Cross a Disciple of Christ".
Bretherens, I saw, when Jesus Christ came down here on this earth, I saw humanity, Master, come running after Him. I saw all His people from Judea and von Galilee come running unto Christ. And when they were hungry, Jesus Christ took five, five little loaves and three little fishes and fed five thousand.
I want to call your attention today, ah, the Red, the Red Cross, a disciple of Christ, ah, obtained right there down in Greenville, Mississippi, and food to feed the suffering humanity, just what Christ was to the world. I saw, ah, when the water begin to rise, and as she rise, I'm told that boils got in the levee, and I heard the men were watching the levee begin to notify, "Aaah, it's danger. Aah, it's dangerous".
I want to call your attention, er, at that time, ah, when men was doomed, ah, to deaths in hell, ah, I saw heaven's chariot begin swaying, ah, and, ah, and redeemed man, ah, upon the his trust of the Lord. I saw the Red Cross when whe heard the cry of men and women that was runned out of their home by the water that was coming down, ah, through the breaks it caused. I heard, I heared, ah, men crying. "Where is my son?" Women crying, "Where is my daughter?"
Oh, look at the water is as is washes through the land, ah, washing down corn cribs, ah, washing away cotton houses, ah, aah, destroying railroads. Aaah, think on rebuilding. If you only hold up your arms, the Red Cross, she will take care of you. Amen.
John Fahey
Der Musiker und Komponist John Fahey (1939–2001) benannte sein Album Red Cross und darin auch das Stück Red Cross, Disciple Of Christ Today nach dem Lied von Moses Mason.
Weitere Informationen
Lied
- Moses Mason, Red Cross The Disciple Of Christ Today, 1928 (Originalaufnahme)
- John Fahey, Red Cross, Disciple Of Christ Today, 2003
- David Evans, High Water Everywhere. Blues and Gospel Commentary on the 1927 Mississipi River Flood, in: Robert Springer (Hrsg.), Nobody Knows where the Blues Come from: Lyrics and History, Jackson 2006, hier: Seiten 48–49
Hilfeleistung
- American Red Cross, The Great Flood of 1927 and the Red Cross Response, 2011
- Myles McMurchy, The Red Cross Is Not All Right! Herbert Hoover's Concentration Camp Cover-up in the 1927 Mississipi Flood, in: Yale Historical Review, Herbst 2015, Seiten 87–113
Einzelnachweise
- ↑ Myles McMurchy, The Red Cross Is Not All Right! Herbert Hoover's Concentration Camp Cover-up in the 1927 Mississipi Flood, in: Yale Historical Review, Herbst 2015, Seiten 87–113, Seite 88.