Jesus Was A Gook

Annotation — My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs

Experimental Hip Hop artist, born 12 November 1974 in Vietnam, and currently based in Los Angeles, California, USA. In the song "Jesus Was A Gook", he turned his attention to the My Lai Massacre - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968. He started, noting that some people focused on the patriotic exploits of John Wayne (who starred in the 1968 flag-waving Vietnam film The Green Berets), while his was Ron Ridenhour, a US soldier who helped uncover the massacre: "some people’s hero’s John Wayne, mine’s Ron Ridenhour, the man who found the power in himself to report the cowards" - possibly the only Vietnam War song to reference him.1 He sought to raise attention to the massacre because "nobody gives a fuck because they’re Vietnamese". The lyrics went on to recall "the most shocking event in Vietnam" in which US soldiers "pushed us in a ditch while moms cried 'No VC'... shielding in their arms their kids". It referred to the massacre as a "genocide by lies enforced".Sources1Wikipedia: Ronald Ridenhour↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Some people’s hero’s John Wayne, mine’s Ron Ridenhour / The man who found the power in himself to report the cowards / Showered the Congress with letters about a Massacre / In My Lai, if you haven’t heard of the / 1968 mass murder by whom? / The United States of America Calley and his troops / Who came to murder 3 hundred and forty seven / Unarmed civilians mostly women and children / Living in poverty – such an atrocity / But nobody gives a fuck because they’re Vietnamese And these culprits won’t admit their racist / They were taught to kill gooks back in basic training / This was fifty years ago, some of them are still alive / You might also like / The Music Industry Hasn’t Changed / Michael Nhat / Area Codes / Kali / M.P.L / Toni Fowler / I got a right to be hostile Violent and blind / By the hate your kind enclose and you / Can’t fucking bury me like Dick Ho... / Jesus was a gook and an activist / Going up against the more popular dominant / They want us dead that’s all that’s it / If we Get in Caesars way – Get in Caesar’s Way!... / I’ll never support your troops / It doesn’t have a meaning if it does, what? Kill gooks? No thank you – I’m sleeping with the enemy / If I was alive then I’d support VC / Victor Charlie motherfucker I said it / You want us to forget it cause you hate to admit it’s / The most shocking event in Vietnam / Where your G.I. Joe’s came along / Pushed us in a ditch while moms / Cried “No VC” while shielding in their arms / Their kids of…

About the artist

Experimental Hip Hop artist, born 12 November 1974 in Vietnam, and currently based in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Themes

My Lai · Genocide · Gook · VC · Anti-Government · Civil Rights · Sexual Violence · John Wayne · Film · Ronald Ridenhour · Anti-Calley · Anti-Asian Racism · Civilian Casualties · The Green Berets

In collections

Civil Rights Songs · My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs · Rap / Hip Hop Songs