As I watched the lyric video of ‘A Change is Gonna Come’, I strongly felt the impact of those powerful words sung by Sam Cooke. Particularly because the words are accompanied by images of people rallying against injustice over the past 60 years. The song was immensely popular during the 1960s but its message is just as relevant today.

 

I watched the video during a lecture on the American Civil Rights Movement where the lecturer taught on some of the key events that led to the emergence of the movement. So much injustice. So much hatred. I’m sure for some African Americans in the 1950s and 60s, it must have felt completely impossible at times that things could ever change, and yet they dared to continue to challenge the status quo. They never gave up, even in the face of so much opposition and open hostility.

 

I found the song deeply thought provoking, and it caused me to reflect on my own attitude towards the hope of change in Northern Ireland. I spent the summer in the beautiful Devon where I stayed in a hostel for number of months and met people from all round the world. It was normal practice to discuss our way of life in our home countries and compare. My Northern Irish 6 o’clock dinner time was met with an aghast reaction from my Spanish friends who often were only starting to cook their dinner at 11pm.

 

We would sometimes discuss politics and I would attempt to explain Northern Irish politics to my baffled listeners. I would end up conducting impromptu history lessons in the pool room. While I was in Devon, Northern Ireland overtook Belgium for the record of having the longest period without a formal government during peace time. This too I attempted to explain.

 

All of these discussions I realised were laced with a sense of hopelessness on my part. “That’s just how things have always been” was characterising my discussion and accompanied by an unvoiced “And that’s how they always will be.” I was heartened by the ‘WeDeserveBetter’ campaign and was particularly struck by the words on their Facebook page; “The North is a wonderful, vibrant and beautiful place and we wish to look and move forward to solve our issues, not backwards to reinvent them. We Deserve Better – We Demand Better.” However, if I had been at home, would I have honestly gone to one of their events myself? Or would my ‘It’s never going to change’ attitude have prevented me from bothering?

 

Listening to Sam Cooke’s song, ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ was a timely reminder for me on my return to Northern Ireland. During the height of The Troubles I’m sure it must have felt like things were never going to change and yet as a country we have come on such a long way since then. We have already seen so much change and it is unfair and unhelpful to give in to apathy and cynicism. So I am going to dare to hope that a change is going to come in our wee country and I am prepared to be more active in playing my part towards making that change happen. Using Sam Cooke’s words I declare over Northern Ireland that “It’s been a long time, a long time coming. But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will.”