Today's the anniversary of the plane crash at Los Gatos, a tragedy that killed 28 Mexican citizens, 3 crew members and one other person. Most people remember it today because of Woody Guthrie's song Deportees, which the biographer Joe Klein called Woody's last great song. It's a wonderful, sad tune that has a lot to say about immigration and race. Woody was inspired to write this (he didn't put it to music) because the NY Times gave only the names of the (white) flight crew, not the 28 Mexican "deportees." The musician John McCutcheon shared those names on his Facebook site, but in my half hour or so of online searching, I can't find those names.
The song has been covered many times, by everyone from Pete Seeger to Joan Baez to Bruce Springsteen, but one of my favorite versions is this one by Woody's son Arlo. Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2eO65BqxBE
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