Answer

What a Wonderful World?

What a Wonderful World, by Louis Armstrong, has not lost its momentum in global history since 1967. George Weiss and Bob Thiele wrote the song. The Vietnam War messed people’s lives, and the song was written with the aim of mending the lives affected during the war. The song has enjoyed massive success in the world’s political, social and economic affairs. This paper presents a reflection about the song about the systemic oppression, global inequalities, generational poverty, disenfranchisement, prison industrial complex, intersectionality, the myth of “racial democracies” and the imperative of trans-continental racial and cultural solidarity.

Right from the title What a Wonderful World, I wonder how Armstrong saw a beautiful world, the world had just experienced inter-racial wars. The Whites viewed themselves as more superior. They oppressed the blacks, yet in the song, Armstrong saw a beautiful world. Did he please the superior Whites whose intentions were to kill, and destroy the lives of people of colour? In the first and the second verses of the songs, Armstrong beautifies “the green trees, red roses, blue skies, bright days and solemn nights” after the destructions of the wars (Christophe, 2016). According to him, there was hope for peace in the world. I find it difficult, to believe Armstrong, especially on the song’s timing. Why was it so immediate after all the inequalities about the people of colour? People were oppressed, many taken into prisons, the black nations racially discriminated, blacks swam in poverty, their culture disregarded, and Boom! Came Armstrong singing and praising the beautiful world! While the song was a source of hope to people of colour, especially on social, economic and political discriminations, its timing was intended to make racially discriminated continents like Africa to fast forget about the impacts of the Vietnam War (Christophe, 2016). I think Armstrong wanted the war casualties to forget about the cultural discriminating, generational poverty by bringing the idea of a beautiful world full of racial democracies, cultural solidarity, and global equality; this has remained a myth.

In short, What a Wonderful World was a mockery on its timing. However, it set up the road for seeing the world from a different perspective. While some things have changed, a lot has not changed as the world still swims in cultural discrimination, generational poverty, intersectionality and disenfranchisement. Even after the war, the people of colour must fight to eliminate racial and global inequalities.