The Night that Goldman Spoke at Union Square

[EMMA GOLDMAN, spoken]
I have just returned from Lawrence, Massachusetts where, eight weeks ago, the workers there went on strike. They are starving, their children are dying, but they are holding firm—and we must support them!

[YOUNGER BROTHER]
It was winter in New York
As the snow began to fall
And the workmen's hall had not a seat to spare
When a young man ducked inside
Just to warm himself, was all
The night that Goldman spoke at Union Square

[EMMA GOLDMAN, spoken]
What is happening in Lawrence is happening everywhere. Let us at last make this the land of opportunity for all people, not just the owners. The land of opportunity for Tateh and his Little Girl. We cannot rest!

[YOUNGER BROTHER]
She was speaking loud and fast
Through a haze of noise and heat
And the smell of sweat and anger in the air
The police were standing by
But the crowd was on its feet
The night that Goldman spoke at Union Square

[EMMA GOLDMAN, spoken]
You!

[YOUNGER BROTHER]
He thought he heard her say

[EMMA GOLDMAN]
What brings you here today?

[EMMA GOLDMAN & ENSEMBLE]
Poor young rich boy

[EMMA GOLDMAN]
Masturbates for a vaudeville tart
What a waste of a fiery heart
Dear

[YOUNGER BROTHER]
He thought she said

[EMMA GOLDMAN & ENSEMBLE]
Poor young bourgeois

[EMMA GOLDMAN]
There are things that you've never thought
Come to Emma and you'll be taught
Here

[YOUNGER BROTHER]
His head was spinning

[EMMA GOLDMAN & ENSEMBLE]
People feathered and tarred, my friend
Unions broken and why for?
Children laboring, women still enslaved
Leave your little backyard, my friend
There are causes to die for

[ENSEMBLE]
Strike!

[YOUNGER BROTHER]
In the gutters of the city
I have tried to find some meaning

[ENSEMBLE]
Strike!

[YOUNGER BROTHER]
In the arms of fallen women
In the thought of suicide

[ENSEMBLE]
Strike!

[YOUNGER BROTHER]
Like a firework unexploded
Wanting life but never knowing how—

[EMMA GOLDMAN]
My brother
Life has meaning
I'll show you how—

[YOUNGER BROTHER]
—Till now

[EMMA GOLDMAN]
My brother, you are
With us now

[YOUNGER BROTHER]
He was calling out her name
Shouting what, he did not know
And he found that he was standing on a chair
With a heart as clean and new
As the freshly fallen snow
The night that Goldman spoke—

[EMMA GOLDMAN, spoken]
I've been waiting for you.

[YOUNGER BROTHER]
—At Union Square

[WORKERS, spoken]
Strike! Strike! Strike! Strike!

[TATEH, spoken]
I hate you, goddamned America!

[LITTLE GIRL, spoken]
Tateh! Tateh! Tateh! Tateh! Tateh! Tateh!