Springsteen/Politics stuff:

Bruce’s speech last night at the first gig of a mini tour, at Minnesota

“These are the hard times, but we’ll make it through. We’re the Americans. But I think — I know — for me, the hardest part about all of this is feeling the distance between your neighbors, your fellow citizens, and that distance… well, it can darken your soul. Now we have a leader who says he wishes nothing but ill upon the people he disagrees with, and who disagree with him. I don’t feel that way. America, from the beginning, was born out of disagreement. It was built on disagreement. We can argue about what course we thought the country should take while recognizing our common humanity, our dignity and, yes, our unity.
"I go back to thinking about Renée Good's last words before she died. To the man she was protesting against, to the man who would take her life, she said, ‘That’s fine dude, I’m not mad at you.’ I’m not mad. God bless her. Tonight, when you go home, hold your loved ones close. And tomorrow, do as Renée did: Find a way to take aggressive, peaceful action to defend our country’s ideals. As the great Civil Rights leader John Lewis said, ‘Go out and get into some good trouble.’ Say something, do something–hell! Sing something! If you are feeling helpless, hopeless, betrayed, frustrated, angry. I know I have been. That's why the E Street Band is here tonight. This is a tour that was not planned. We are here tonight because we need to feel your hope and your strength and we want to bring some hope and strength to you. I hope we get that. All I can say is 'God bless Alex Pretti, God bless Renée Good, God bless you and God bless America."

Posted By: Augustus Pablo, Apr 1, 15:14:00