Not so much a palate cleanser we suppose, but here's a protest song from 1964 by the High Priestess of Soul, Nina Simone. The song was written in response to the murder of Medgar Evers, and the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in which four schoolchildren were killed. She performed the song live at the end of one of the Selma to Montgomery marches in which she and several famous black activists (including Sammy Davis Jr. and James Baldwin) had crossed police lines. There are better, unembeddable versions of her performing the song here and here. Go over to NPR to hear Nina's tribute to Martin Luther King Jr., "Why?"