Ballad of Ben Linder

This is my first attempt at a ballad (a song that tells a story). Having been involved with the Latin American solidarity movement in the Oregon area I'd heard about Ben Linder. In 2001 someone from Oregon SOA watch asked me to carry a cross with his name on it to the gates of Ft. Benning, GA. The year after graduating from college I worked as the advocacy coordinanor for Quest for Peace at the Quixote Center. We had some copies of Joan Kruckewitt's The Death of Ben Liner left over from a promotion and they gave me a copy. That, along with a couple David Corn articles on Iran-contra criminals in the second Bush administration provided the information for the song.

Ronald Reagan killed Ben Linder
He said "I am a contra" and the contras killed Ben
Claiming not to remember may have kept him in the White House
But alzheimers won't absolve him of this sin

Ben Linder flew down to Nicaragua
He'd just finished studying to be an engineer
Went to go join the Sandinistas in their struggle
against hunger, disease, ignorance and fear

In addition to his many other talents
Ben Linder was also a clown
The children would chase him as her rode his unicycle
through the busy streets of Managua's downtown

But Otto Reich killed Ben Linder
in his job spreading White House lies
from the comfort of his Washington office
he never had to hear an orphan's cries

Ben Linder headed to the campo
to go live with the poor
working on a hydroelectric project
in the middle of a bloody civil war

Ben and his co-workers headed up the river
to go measure the water flow
they knew that it was dangerous
but they still decided to go

A contra Ambush was waiting for them
they threw grenades at them and showered them with lead
the villagers arrived to find Ben Linder
lying face down, a bullet to the head

Oliver North killed Ben Linder
the same as if he'd stabbed him with a knife
the Consitution that he pissed on may have kept him out of prison
but there's no Fifth Amendment in the afterlife

In a cemetery in Matagalpa
they lay to rest this man who died fighting for the poor
and on his grave are these words:
"The light he lit will shine forevermore."

Ben Linder gave his life
to resist the insanity of the U.S. Empire
if it seems a futile gesture, just remember
it only takes a spark to start a fire

They killed Ben Linder's body
but his spirit is present still
in the work of those who continue the struggle
because hope is something they just can't kill