2020 has seen a reckoning for a lot of social issues, but none louder than the Black Lives Matter movement. As America expresses outrage over yet another senseless police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, we have no choice but to face the systemic racism that lies at the root of it all.

Today happens to be the anniversary of when James Brown live debuted his anthemic hit "Say It Loud - I'm Black and I'm Proud." The Godfather of Soul released the funky song the same time as its live debut, in August 1968, just a few years after the civil rights movement. Now that we're experiencing a reawakening of that movement, the song, which addresses the racism towards Black people in America, STILL rings truer than ever.

Some people say we got a lot of malice, some say it's a lotta nerve
But I say we won't quit movin' until we get what we deserve
We've been buked and we've been scourned
We've been treated bad, talked about as sure as you're born
But just as sure as it take two eyes to make a pair, huh!
Brother we can't quit until we get our share

The powerful hit has charted as one of the 500 songs that has shaped rock and roll (according to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), and today I'd like to implore that this song continues to influence beyond the music.

Brown live premiered the track at Dallas Memorial Auditorium in Texas during an epic 22-song set. It landed as the second song on the set, and was brought back as a reprise for the last song of the night.

Check out everything he performed on that night, 52 years ago, in the setlist below: