Sam Cooke was found dead, 60 years ago, in a cheap Los Angeles motel. Allegedly, he kidnapped and attempted to sexually assault a sex worker. The motel manager said she saw the woman escape.
Apparently scared for her own life, the manager shot Cooke in the chest! But there are huge inconsistencies in this already problematic story.
Cooke didn’t have a history of violence. Not a single motel guest heard gunshots. And the bullets recovered from his body didn’t match the gun the hotel manager apparently shot him with!
Even worse, his face was severely disfigured at his funeral. So what could have really happened to one of the greatest singers in history?
Cooke’s actions had been alienating his white fans. He’d been arrested for registering in a “whites only” hotel, and he was becoming increasingly outspoken for Black equality and civil rights. But that’s not the only coincidence.
He wrote “A Change is Gonna Come” after his arrest, and it became a rallying cry for the civil rights movement!
To angry white people, his death was the opportunity to make an example of Black people who dared to speak out. To our people, it meant something else.
Cooke’s life ended mysteriously, but our fight for liberation is not over. We refuse to allow his death to be in vain. Instead, we use his anthem to uplift ourselves — and intensify our fight for justice!