Four Men

by nomi338

The author has placed a warning on this post for violence.

In 1966, the singer-composer Nina Simone was so affected by the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, she wrote a song titled “Four Women.” It was a tribute to the four young women who were murdered in that act of terrorism.
In the song, Simone created a portrait of four Black female stereotypes. There was Simone herself, Aunt Sarah, a God-fearing housecleaner, Sephronia young light-skinned activist and Sweet Thing a tough prostitute. The point of the song is that there can be no single portrait of any person. Each individual, no matter what color or background has worth as a human being.
Simone created the song out of anger about the bombing. Her goal was to express how the rest of America viewed African-American females – as invisible. If White society saw all Blacks as stereotypes, it helped to make the dead women seem almost anonymous – thus lessening the tragedy of their deaths.

Lyrics
My skin is black
My arms are long
My hair is woolly
My back is strong
Strong enough to take the pain
Inflicted again and again
What do they call me?
My name is Aunt Sarah
My name is Aunt Sarah, Aunt Sarah

My skin is yellow
My hair is long
Between two worlds
I do belong
My father was rich and white
He forced my mother late one night
What do they call me?
My name is Saffronia
My name is Saffronia

My skin is tan
My hair is fine
My hips invite you
My mouth like wine
Whose little girl am I?
Anyone who has money to buy
What do they call me?
My name is Sweet Thing
My name is Sweet Thing

My skin is brown
My manner is tough
I'll kill the first mother I see
My life has been rough
I'm awfully bitter these days
'Cause my parents were slaves
What do they call me?
My name is Peaches

I was, likewise, inspired by MS Simone’s powerful work. I thought of the many black men killed by law enforcement and vigilante violence when I wrote this.
If any of Nina Simone’s fans take offence at my efforts, I am sorry you feel that way, but as an artist I demand the right to write what I feel and believe in. You cannot and will not silence me by your resistance, or criticism.

Nolan Miller: Four Men
My skin is black, my head is shaved
I am a descendent of the enslaved
I am feared and for good reason
With me violence’s always in season
What do they call me?
My name is Rufus.

My skin is light, almost white
My mother’s virtue taken one night
She gave in without a fight
For her, escape was not in sight
What do they call me?
My name is Silas.

My skin is tan, a good-looking man
Athletic and strong, in sports arenas I belong
My mother was fancy, her name was Nancy
Men paid for her company, that impressed me
What do they call me?
My name? Big-Money Mike.

My skin is brown, I don’t play around
Look at me if you dare, I’ll kill you I don’t care
I will not ever comb my hair, yeah, I know, life’s not fair
Abandoned at birth, I grew up on the street
I am likely to assault anybody I meet
What do they call me?
My name is Brutus!

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This is in response to the song by Nina Simone Four Women

Four Men

by nomi338

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