Andra Day, who plays Billie Holiday in the new movie The United States Vs. Billie Holiday, explains how she felt when she heard it as a child. “It’s in my DNA. It’s in our DNA … I think as a nation. And as a people, as Black people. I remember being very quieted by the song, almost sort of prostrated. All I knew was it made me sad. … There was such pain there and it stunned me as a child. It really just struck me.” – NPR