Buenas Nuevas! - Good News!

This is my favorite of the songs we sang for Easter mass. The singer isn't joking around. This isn't a picture of Easter painted with the same pastel colors used to dye eggs. This is a picture of the resurrection painted with the thick, bold strokes of a Diego Rivera painting.

Caerán los que oprimían la esperanza de mi pueblo. Caerán los que comían su pan sin haber sudado. Caerán con la violencia que ellos mismos han buscado y se alzará mi pueblo como el sol sobre el sembrado. Buenas nuevas! Buenas Nuevas pa´mi pueblo! El que quiera oir que oiga y el que quiera ver que vea, Lo que está pasando en medio de un pueblo que empieza a desperatar. Lo que está pasando en medio de un pueblo que empieza a caminar.

They who oppressed the hope of my people, will fall. They who ate their bread without sweating first, will fall. They will fall with the violence that they themselves have looked for and my people will be built up like the sun over the sown fields. Good news! Good news for my people! May whoever wants to hear, hear and may whoever wants to see, see What is happening in the middle of a people that is beginning to wake up What is happening in the middle of a people that is beginning to walk.

The oppressors will fall. They will fall with the same violence that they brought upon us. The lyrics put a question to the listener: are you a part of this pueblo? Or are you one of the oppressors? Wake up and pick a side. Do you work for what you have? Or do you sit back and live off the interest of your stock portfolio and your accounts in the Cayman islands? Did you sweat for you daily bread? Or did you steal it from farmers in poor countries? Having you been bringing violence on this people (hint: if you are from the US, your government has been bringing violence on the people of Latin America for over 60 years)? If you have been, that violence is going to come back to bite you in the ass.

You know who the singer doesn't mention? People who are neutral. There's no message for them, the singer has nothing to say about them, just as they had nothing to do for or against the singer throughout the singer's life. There is no neutrality here, you are either one of the oppressors or one of the people. This is the Easter song of people like Paolo Freire.

 The song is called good news, but it looks like nothing but bad news for the oppressors. The good news is for the people. Let those who have ears hear, let those who have eyes see. Hear and see what is happening amongst these people who are beginning to wake up. What are they waking up to? They're waking up the the injustice of their lives, they're waking up from the slumber of passive acceptance. They're begging to walk, so get out of the way. They're walking together to the promised land. They're walking towards their own resurrection. Are you walking with them, or are you going to fall?