der talyen/The Hangman

I was moved to write der talyen / The Hangman while watching Al Sharpton eulogize George Floyd at the June 4, 2020 memorial in Minneapolis. Sharpton emphasized the horrific symbolism of Floyd's murder—the “knee on our neck,” which has for so long held down and held back Black people in this country. At the same time, Sharpton welcomed the heartening fact of widespread, multi-racial demonstrations of outrage around the nation and around the world.

I wrote the song in Yiddish because Yiddish has become my first songwriting idiom and a language that invokes a long tradition of moral, social, and political critique. I tell the story in four verses, each actor paired with the authority they answered to: the cop-executioner, who obeys his commander-in-chief (then-President Trump); the junior cop, who writes up the death report according to his superior officers' implicit behest; the eye-witness who captures the truth on her cell-phone, who obeys the moral imperative to bear witness; and the world of mourners-protesters, who obey the moral imperative to “only just do justice.” The song is, of course, dedicated to George Floyd: koved zayn ondenk / honor to his memory.

Lyrics:

der talyen /The Hangman

1. The hangman wore a sky blue shirt.
And what does his overlord require of him?
To kneel, to kneel, and kneel, and kneel unto death.
To kneel out of the captive all his life and right,
to make it clear to all what is punishment and what is crime.
The hangman wore a sky blue shirt...

2. The underling went to sign off on the report.
And what does his superior require of him?
Falsehood, falsehood, falsehood, made-up stories.
To write down that the captive resisted,
because every sworn juror will accept it as good as gold.
The underling went to sign off on the report...

3. The passerby was walking, and saw what was happening.
And what does the Most High require of her?
To be the witness, to be the witness—to capture the truth with her telephone.
To inscribe in our common conscience that undeniable, endless moment.
To tear the mask of law off of America.
The passerby was walking, and saw what was happening...

4. From every home and community come streaming into the streets
mourners-resisters, in sorrow and in anger.
And what does the Most High require of us?
“Just only to do justice...” Only to do justice.
No more “superior race” vs. “inferior race” handed down through generations!
No more “superior race” vs. “inferior race” held in place by terror!
An end to the racist structures that torment us!
An end to lynch mobs
that go wearing shirts of sky blue!
From every home and community come streaming into the streets...

—Josh Waletzky,
Brooklyn, New York