I heard Billie holidays song strange fruit presents an ethical scandal. What was the problem?
It’s about the lynch justice against African Americans in those days. Strange Fruit is the American American hanging down a tree… Billie Holiday sang the song the very first time in Cafe Society in New York, a club open for black and white people. When she wanted to record it, Brunswick and Vocalion (record companies which belonged to Columbia records) refused doing it because they feared the reaction of their Southern record dealers. Billie recorded the song for a small independent label called Commodore records owned by Milt Gabler on April 20, 1939 (the very same day when she recorded this hymn against racism Nazi Germany was celebrating Hitler’s 50th birthday!). Milt Gabler is the uncle of Billy Chrystal (When Harry Met Sally) by the way. The problem of the lynch system might be solved in the U.S. However, most of the people who die because of the unjust death penalty in the U.S. are African Americans. Therefore, I would say that the problem is solved only partially.
