Jedus Bon - The Christmas Story in Gullah

Jedus Bon

Een dat time, Caesar Augustus been de rula ob de Roman people. E mek a law een all de town een de wol weh e hab tority, say, “Ebrybody haffa go ta town fa count by de head an write down e name.” 

2Dis been de fus time dey count by de head, jurin de time Quirinius de gobna ob Syria country. 

3So den, ebrybody gone fa count by de head, ta e own town weh e ole people been bon.

4Now Joseph same fashion gone fom Nazareth town een Galilee. E trabel ta de town name Betlem een Judea, weh de ole people leada, King David, been bon. Joseph gone dey cause e blongst ta David fambly. 

5E gone fa count by de head, an Mary gone long wid um. E gage fa marry um. An Mary been speckin. 

6Same time wen dey been dey, time come fa Mary gone een. 

7E hab boy chile, e fusbon. E wrop um op een closs wa been teah eenta scrip an lay um een a trough weh dey feed de cow an oda animal dem. Cause Mary an Joseph beena stay weh de animal sleep. Dey ain been no room fa dem eenside de bodin house.

De Shephud Dem Go fa See de Chile Jedus

8Now some shephud been dey een de fiel dat night. Dey beena stay dey, da mind dey sheep. 

9Den one angel ob de Lawd appeah ta um. De night time done lightnin op jes like day clean broad. Cause ob dat, de shephud mos scaid ta det. 

10Bot de angel tell um say, “Mus dohn feah! A hab good nyews wa gwine mek ebrybody rejaice. 

11Cause A come fa tell oona, ‘Right now, dis day, a Sabior done bon fa oona. E Christ de Lawd. An e bon een David town!’ 

12A gwine tell oona wa oona gwine see dey. Cause ob dat, oona gwine know A done tell oona de trute. Oona gwine find de chile wrop op een closs wa been teah eenta scrip, an e been leddown een a trough.”

13All ob a sudden, a heapa oda angel fom heaben been longside dat angel. Dey all da praise God, say,

14“Leh we gii glory ta God een de mos high heaben.

Leh dey be peace ta dem een de wol wa hab God fabor!”

15Den de angel lef um an gone back ta heaben. An de shephud dem say ta one noda, “Leh we go ta Betlem fa see dis ting wa happen oba dey. De Lawd esef done sen e angel fa tell we.”

Gullah is a beautiful creole language spoken on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia.

November 22, 1963

A few weeks ago, on November 22, we marked the 48th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy as he rode in a motorcade in an open car through Dealy Plaza in the city of Dallas, Texas, in 1963.

Everyone remembers where they were when they heard the news that one of our most beloved presidents had been cut down by a bullet. I was at school in a ninth grade classroom surrounded by my classmates in my hometown of Reidsville, North Carolina. The principal's voice interrupted our activities as it came over the school's public address system. In faltering words, he informed us that our president had been shot and killed. He told us the president was dead.

My classroom erupted in applause.

I will never forget it. Most of the students in the room applauded. There was a joyful atmosphere, a celebratory mood. The few of us who were not clapping were in shock, crying. I cried for President Kennedy and the loss of his life, for his wife and children who would have to go on without him. I cried both for my country and the blow she had just taken, and I cried for myself for having to be in that room at that time and that place.

You have to be taught to hate like that. It doesn't come naturally. These young kids had learned this at home and had brought it to school with them. There I had to be exposed to it in all its sickening reality. It left a scar that remains to this day. There's another post I could write on the assassination, on the events of the days that followed, but when I look back, the first thing I remember is that they applauded.

They applauded.

The Madison Revolution- Tom Degan's The Rant

smart in the south

GOOD OLE BOYS LIKE ME

Don Williams

1980

When I was a kid Uncle Remus would put me to bed
With a picture of Stonewall Jackson above my head
Then Daddy came in to kiss his little man
With gin on his breath and a Bible in his hand
He talked about honor and things I should know
Then he'd stagger a little as he walked out the door.

I can still hear the soft southern winds in the live oak tree
And those Williams boys still mean a lot to me - Hank and Tennessee
I guess we're all gonna be what what we're gonna be
So what do you do with good ole boys like me?

Now nothing makes a sound in the night like the wind does
But you ain't afraid if you're washed in the blood like I was
Smell of jasmine through the window screen
John R and the Wolfman kept me company
By the light of the radio by my bed
With Thomas Wolfe whispering inside my head.

When I was in school I ran with a kid down the street
And I watch him burn himself up on bourbon and speed
But I was smarter than most and I could choose
Learned to talk like the man on the 6 o'clock news
When I was eighteen Lord I hit the road
But it really doesn't matter how far I go

I can still hear the soft southern winds in the live oak tree
And those Williams boys still mean a lot to me - Hank and Tennessee
I guess we're all gonna be what we're gonna be
So what do you do with good ole boys like me?