This Christmas, the carols are a little different than you might expect in New York City. Shoppers can buy gifts for their loved ones to the tune of "Oh, little town of Ferguson," or "All I want for Christmas is an indictment" this year .
In the reimagined songs, “O Little Town of Bethlehem” became “O Little Town of Ferguson,” the Missouri city where Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old, was shot dead in August by a white police officer. A grand jury declined last month to indict the officer, Darren Wilson, sparking a nationwide wave of protests.
Other songs included “All I Want for Christmas is an Indictment” and “Little Drummer Boy,” which was remade into a dirge for Eric Garner, who died in July after being choked by a New York police officer in Staten Island. That officer also avoided indictment in a decision handed down last week.
Organizer Cassandra Oliveras, 35, a self-described “choral freak,” said the idea of adapting carols to the current controversies came to her after a recent protest in Manhattan aimed at stopping the lighting of the city’s Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. Police blocked protesters from reaching the site.
Creative, and it makes the point, too!
