How Much Longer?
How Much Longer?
”An interesting fact: How Much Longer was conceived and written on a former plantation near a cemetery where slaves and Confederate soldiers were buried side by side." (Art Hooker)“We are a tired and fed up people. Tired of broken systems and fed up with injustice. We long to see the end of these things. We keep asking How Much Longer. When will the oppressed be liberated, and when will the oppressors meet justice or turn from their ways.” (Ben Hardesty)
"How much longer is the cry of those who long to see a day where justice flows like a river, a day where both action and desire meet." (Courtney Orlando)
HOW MUCH LONGER?
Written by Art Hooker (BMI), Benjamin Hardesty (BMI), Courtney Orlando (ASCAP)
© 2017 Common Hymnal Digital (BMI), New Metropolitan Music (BMI), Benjo Darro Music Company (BMI), Common Hymnal Publishing (ASCAP), Theocentric Music (ASCAP) (admin by IntegratedRights.com). CCLI 7109361.
VERSE 1
E
In the silence, tell me, can you hear
The voices calling out, of the disappeared?
A
Broken spirits, dormant dreams
E
How much longer will justice sleep?
PRE CHORUS
C#m B
When a lawless heart is the voice we’re hearing
E
We need freedom
CHORUS
A E
How much longer 'til we sing a new song?
A E
How much longer 'til we sing a new song?
VERSE 2
Hearts of saints and sinners, too
Both have walked away from the destitute
Call them back to sing as one
A song of freedom now, a song to overcome
BRIDGE
E
Come on brother, lay your weapons down
Where the river of justice rolls and all oppression drowns
It flows with life, love and truth
May the old be washed away and hearts be made anew
More Songs Written By Ben Hardesty
Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. (Amos 5:23-24)
In the midst of the US presidential election of 2016, with the backdrop of a series of events fueled by racial tension and violence across America, the writers of 'How Much Longer' met together to write for the first time. Three sons of preachers; two black, one white.
How Much Longer was conceived and written on a former plantation near a cemetery where slaves and Confederate soldiers were buried side by side. Reflecting on the current turmoil we wrestled with two ideas:
1. How much longer will we continue to see the same kinds of divisive issues in America around race and ethnicity? How much longer will justice sleep?
2. Why do we continue to fight one another in life with such fervor even though we know that eventually, we will return to the earth? As we looked to the graveyard in the distance, we pondered whether we would only have unity and peace in death.
We concluded our session with the burden of creating a battle cry for renewal as reflected in the bridge: Come on brother, lay your weapons down, where the river of justice rolls and all oppression drowns.
Art Hooker
There are broken and flawed systems set in place that that perpetuate brokenness in our society. I’m not writing this to explore or explain those systems and how they effect the poor and needy, but merely to state that they do exist. They do exist and they are failing our countrymen and our fellow human beings; our brothers and sisters. Personally I am not someone who has felt the weight of oppression, but having very close friends who do on a daily basis, and having experiences as a first hand witness of hate towards people based on things like class, race, religion etc. have helped me see where we have gone wrong as a society. I’m writing now to say that we are tired and fed up with these generational injustices. We want to see change. We want freedom for the downtrodden, and hope restored to all people. We are calling out of anger and exhaustion and conviction asking both people and our God, how much longer.
When the morning news reads "another mass shooting" what goes through your heart? When you listen to politicians debate the human rights of migrant children separated from families a the border, what is it you hear? When you see the lives of unarmed African Americans killed on camera by police, how does that make you feel? And when you look at the ways in which we have been complicit in not loving our neighbors as ourselves, what is your resolve?
Well, from such questions and the answers to them is what gave birth to this song. "How Much Longer is the cry of those who long to see a day where justice flows like a river, a day where both action and desire meet." A day where followers of Jesus not only sing of this new day but are guilty of helping bring it to pass.