We Shall Overcome: a Swedish farce in 1992

Malcolm X, likely at a welcoming event for the African-American Students Foundation in 1959 or 1960 Whoever heard of a revolution where they lock arms, singing 'We Shall Overcome'? You don't do that in a revolution. You don't do any singing; you're too busy swinging. Malcolm X, "Message to the Grassroots" Actually, singing that song is what a Swedish politician did to try and calm outraged people in a public hall in Sweden in 1992. At the height of public outrage against John Ausonius, an active and racist serial killer, politicians met with people in Rinkeby, a multicultural area of Stockholm county. In Sweden, the song is partly known because Birgit Friggebo, during her time as Sweden's Minister for Culture from 1991–1994, with responsibility also for immigration issues, drew attention for a blunder at Rinkeby Folkets Hus. During a debate on racism and xenophobia on 5 February 1992 in the wake of the "Laser Man", Friggebo tried to calm the atmosphere by suggesting that the entire…