The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #98076   Message #2591846
Posted By: Azizi
18-Mar-09 - 12:38 PM
Thread Name: Songs about dr martin luther king
Subject: RE: Songs about dr martin luther king
Mark, I don't know the song. Hopefully, someone will post it soon.

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Here's a link to one of several YouTube videos of a song that includes this verse:

Rosa sat, so Martin could walk
Martin walked so Barack could run
Barack ran so all our children could fly"

Rosa Sat-Song for Barack Obama

In that particular video, the song including that verse is written and performed by Amy Dixon-Kolar (c) 2008 Asharta Music/ASCAP. The video contains some historical photographs of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and President Obama's inauguration.

**

Here's a link to a discussion about the source/s for the "Rosa sat so Martin could walk" verse:
http://forum.quoteland.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/99191541/m/9831074081

That discussion includes variant forms of this verse, and mentions that it has already been printed on tee-shirts. One member of that forum finally tracked down the person who composed the verse:

Posted 12-10-08 03:10 AM by ontograph
This was spoken by Cleo Fields at the 9th annual State of the Black Union 2008. A press release describing the event is at
http://www.tavistalks.com/pdf/sobu_press_release.pdf

It says:
Panelists observed that Senator Barack Obama's historic run for the White House didn't come out of thin air.
"Rosa Parks sat down so we could stand up. Martin Luther King marched so Jesse Jackson could run. Jesse Jackson ran so Obama could win," said Cleo Fields, former Louisiana State Senator and U.S. Congressman.

Another version appears at
http://sociologistsforobama.blogspot.com/ :

Cleo Fields: Putting it all in Perspective
"W. E. B. DuBois started to teach so that Rosa Parks could take a seat. Rosa Parks took a seat so that we could all take a stand. We all took a stand so that Martin Luther King, Jr. could march. Martin Luther King, Jr. marched so that Jesse Jackson could run. Jesse Jackson ran so that Barack Obama could win!"
Cleo Fields at the State of the Black Union February. 23, 2008