When I turn on my television screen all I see is my kind. My kind lying face down on the ground surrounded in a pool of their own blood. It is not only adults but kids that had dreams and aspirations in life to become something that will never come true. Then I see retaliation some are peaceful protest and other are violent, only making matters worst. This playlist goes out to the young black souls that lost their lives over the past four years. (1). Warzone - T.I I choose warzone to be the first on my playlist because it touches the subject on Trayvon Martin, Hanging in Piedmont Park, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, and Alton Sterling .The chorus addresses Eric Garner 's last words “I Can’t Breathe.” On July 17,2014 Eric Garner was …show more content…
In the lyrics “If Trump want war I give to him, gon buck em, America with three K’, Freedom got a shotgun, For all the homies shot down by white boys and not one convicted, Of wrongdoing, is it justice we pursuing” Scarface mentions Donald Trump and the KKK. Scarface also spoke about how we are not equal, it is not about the flag, change the people. There was a whole conversary about the Confederate flag and what it stood for but the flag wasn’t the problem, the problem lies within the people and what they believe is right and wrong. The songs ends with a different tone saying that we as in black people have to stick together. We are the same color, we have a beautiful culture, there is nobody that is high or lower than one another, and that we are all …show more content…
No justice, No peace - Z-ro (Prod. Mike Dean) No Justice, No Peace was written on July 8, 2016 soon after Alton Sterling and Philando Castile lost their lives. In No Justice, No Peace Z-Ro discuss why black people don’t trust the police. His lyrics states “You just told me to reach for my wallet, so I reached for my wallet, now I 'm dead.” Those lyrics related to Philando Castile, when the officer ask him to reached for his wallet and with doing so he lost his life. He also made reference to Alton Sterling when he said “Am I next to get shot for selling CD 's in front of my favorite neighborhood store .” A verse that stood out to me is when he said “Black men, Black women the time is now, come on everybody let 's man up Put our differences beside because we understand each other, They don 't understand us.” It is such a powerful and meaningful verse, we have to have each other 's backs because nobody else has them. (5). Be Free - J. Cole J. Cole wrote Be Free as a tribute to Michael Brown. Michael Brown was an 18 year old who was shot six times by a police officer on August 9th, 2014. Many people have different stories onto how this incident happen, but this is what we do know about the case. Michael Brown was shot 6 times and twice in the head which caused a fatal injury. People started to protest directly after the shooting; declaring a State of Emergency. In the song “Be Free” J cole has an eye witness talking in the background telling the
Smith’s poem, “Unrest in Baton Rouge,” she states “Our bodies run with ink dark blood” (1), a reference to the days of slavery when traders believed that the darker the blood of an African man, the stronger, more dependable, and more valuable he would be. The next line demonstrates an even darker theme: “Blood pools in the pavement seams” (Smith, 2). The line laments that, as perpetuated by the mainstream media, African Americans are being gunned down in the streets of this country indiscriminately by law enforcement officers. In terms of absolute numbers, more white Americans are killed by police that AfricanAmericans (560 versus 318, respectively, in 2015 and 2016). Admittedly, based on relative population, AfricanAmericans are more likely to be killed by police officers than whites; however, in 2015 and 2016 there were a total of just 1388 and 1034 police involved shootings, representing just 0.0003 0.0004% of the U.S. population (Palma). While any death is lamentable, it is clear from these numbers that the police are not out looking to kill black men. While she
When our parents tell us to “address the police by sir or ma’am, sit up straight, and don’t move too quickly, we ask ourselves why? It is in that moment we realize it is because that the world does not love us and wants us dead. This epiphany hardens us and strips us of our innocence and ability to float through the world. We are weighed down by the weight of hatred towards blacks. Our only chance of being able to free our minds is to live without fear of judgement, and without fear of persecution. Because if we do, we will always be looking behind our backs, overanalysing everything that is said to us, second guessing the work that we do, and never truly be able to trust the
... song entitled “Formation”. The filming took place in Los Angeles, but features references to Hurricane Katrina, with Beyoncé on top of a police car in a flooded street and later cuts to a man holding a newspaper with Martin Luther King Jr.’s face on it with the title “The Truth”. Later a young hooded boy dances in front of a line of police officers with their hands up before the video cuts to a graffitied wall with the words “stop shooting us “ tagged on it, at the end of the video the police car sunk with her on top. Not only did this song, bring awareness to the 10th anniversary of hurricane Katrina it also brought awareness to police brutality, racism, and the “black lives matter movement”. I stand with Lil Wayne, Beyoncé, the people of New Orleans and the countless others who are pushing for a change in the way minorities and the lower class citizen are treated.
In “Formation”, a young African American teenager is seen hip hop dancing in front of a white wall with “Stop shooting us” painted over it. A barricade of cops is then shown, raising their arms as they stand across from the child when he surrenders and raises his arms. This scene signifies the antagonization of the black people and culture by the police around the country, and calls both sides of the scale for truce making. In the track “Freedom”, Kendrick Lamar, who has been vocal about police brutality for most of his career as a rapper, has a guest verse where he criticizes major news media companies for misconstruing the messages in his work. Responding to Geraldo Rivera of FOX News, who concluded his critique of Kendrick Lamar’s song “Alright” by saying that it has done more damage to the black community than racism, Kendrick Lamar inserts a bar which goes “Channel 9 News tell me I’m moving backwards.” The lyric also creates a contrast between the previous track “Forward” with the use of the adverb “backwards”. Lamar continues with an emphasis on the feeling of confrontation and oppression when an African American encounters the police in the United States with the following self-explanatory
During the 2015 BET Awards, Lamar performed the song on top of a police car, solidifying the song’s purpose as a protest against police authority and brutality. The next day Fox 5 News aired a segment on the performance and in the editing of the video they highlighted certain lyrics such as: “We hate po-po, wanna kill us dead in the streets fo sho’; My gun might blow” leaving out other crucial lyrics and context to understanding the song. This gave the impression that maybe Lamar’s “gun” would kill a police officer, when in fact he’s talking about killing himself. One of the anchors described Lamar’s performance as “damaging to young African-Americans” and “giving exactly the wrong message.” Lamar responded to the comments in another interview by saying “Hip-Hop is not the problem. “Our reality” is the problem of the situation. This is our music.” He explains that he was rapping about “hope” not “violence.” The messages he sends through hope are within God and using God as a source of relief and belief that eventually, everything will be alright. Lamar insists in the interview that the album is about hope, and that you cannot deny that there are instances of social injustice that or that the judicial system is racially biased. But at the end of the day you cannot take away their hopes and privilege that “we gon’ be
Police brutality has been an apparent mark on the struggles, trials, and tribulations of people of minorities for years, primarily Black people. From the times of slavery to the present unlawful targeting and murders of black citizens with no justification, police brutality has been an enema in Black American culture for hundreds of years. Seen both in James Baldwin’s “Going to Meet the Man” and in the current happenings of the United States. The hashtag “#BlackLivesMatter” has been a focal point in the current struggle for equality of the races. The current outpouring of support for black lives and
“We gone be alright.” On July 28, 2015, a large group of activists repeatedly chanted these four words during a police harassment protest at Cleveland State University. This chant was inspired by the eponymous song from Kendrick Lamar’s album To Pimp a Butterfly, and this is not really a surprise. In 2015 To Pimp a Butterfly grew to be the successor of the great hip-hop albums from the late eighties and early nineties, an era in which iconic artists like Tupac Shakur and Niggaz Wit Attitudes crafted politically charged songs that moved a nation. In this essay I will argue that Kendrick Lamar’s album To Pimp a Butterfly has become a musical landmark in America’s struggle for racial equality. It fulfills an important political role by addressing
The song “Self Destruction” by the Stop the Violence Movement takes advantage of various rhetorical appeals in order to convey their message to the audience. The song uses the numerous appeals in order to target an audience of predominantly African Americans, while still enticing the rest of the public. These appeals all contribute to the overall message of coming together as a whole and becoming a better, less violent community. The song is able to successfully portray this message in a way unlike any other. Using logical, emotional, and ethical appeals, the songwriters were able to vividly depict the underlying message and convey their thoughts to the intended audience in a positive manner by taking a unique approach of self-examination.
A number of African American people have been murdered by members of the police force and there still has yet to be any justice for them. The fact that members of a force that are meant to protect us, are actually killing many, brings on a feeling of uneasiness and distrust. They’re targeting innocent members of society for no other reason than their skin color. And justice hasn’t been accomplished in honor of all the people that were murdered. This proves just how unjust the criminal system is and how much work needs to be done to bring justice and equality for every gender, race,
In his lyrics, Lil Wayne describes the conditions and statistics of federal oppression and detainment of black people.
Imagine being involved in so much pain and misery, pharmaceutical tests, vaccine tests, Military experiments and training and brain experiments. 125,000 primates are imprisoned in US laboratories every year. In order to take the Primates at a young age from their natural habits, trappers will shoot the mothers from the tree, shock the animals with dart guns and capture the babies who are still clinging onto their dying mother. Do animals not deserve to be cared for the same way people care for other people? In laboratories, primates go through series of experiments that lead up to their death. 90 percent of primates in laboratories develop psychological issues. After being taken from family, Primates are locked in a small steel cage and left to be alone. At most the primates are given cheap plastic toys, scratched mirrors and occasional fresh fruit such as an apple or banana. Primates will eventually begin to
Throughout the years many people have put their feelings about the United States Justice system into poems or songs. We have heard various artist refer to the system as being very corrupt and about public officials abusing their power. In 2002, Lauryn Hill released the MTV Unplugged 2.0 album. On this album, there were twenty-one songs. One of the songs was called “The Mystery of Iniquity”. This song featured many verses that reflect the corruption in the American legal system. This song also reveals many significant facts about America’s justice system. Finally, in this song she instructs people to wake up and realize that everything the government tells us is not the truth. Lauryn Hill has never been shy when expressing her beliefs in her songs. Lauryn Hill was first with the Fugees when America first heard her unique voice. As a singer and rapper, she has always been very
In the poem, he mentions black people that were treated unfairly and how many of those people are not recognized as much. He powerfully wrote: “Names lost. Know too many Trayvon Martins / Oscar Grants / and Abner Louimas, know too many / Sean Bells, and Amadou Diallos / Know too well that we are the hard-boiled sons of Emmett Till” (Lines 53-60). This quote shows how many of our black people are discriminated by their skin color are mistreated. Abner Louimas, Sean Bells and Amadou Diallos were men that were victims of police brutality and were shot several times by police officers. Specifically, Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin’s deaths were great examples as to how people were and still are racist. To take a case in point, Emmett Till who was African-American was tortured and killed because he flirted with a white woman. Trayvon Martin was a teenager who was shot and killed just because he went to grab a bag of skittles from his pocket, which the person who shot him thought he was reaching for a weapon. The many examples that Johnson makes help show how racism and stereotypes play a major role in our society because many people are still victims of discrimination. They are automatically stereotyped into a criminal who is about to do something that is illegal. In the society that we live in, blacks do not have any power, they do not get the benefit of the doubt whether or not
This year there's been a lot of brutalities. In fact, there have been at least 500 people killed by the police officers this year. In this article, we are going to be talking about police brutality against African Americans. We are also going to talk about the differences and similarities of different cases that have been in the news this year. For example, the Sandra bland, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and the Walter Scott cases. Also, we're going to talk about how these cases have affected the African American community.
Through growth as an artist and a person Kanye’s stance on how to deal with racism in America has shifted from an attitude of non-violence similar to that of Martin Luther King Jr. to an attitude of freedom at any cost similar to that of Malcolm X. Whether it be these two or any of the messages and ideals touched on in Kanye’s music, they are usually ideals supported by a large part of the African American population. His two messages on how to deal with racism, while polar opposites, are no different and both echo loudly with different Parts of the African American community.