I M Not Racist Poem Analysis

2181 Words5 Pages

Controversial is the term that many people used in response to "I'm Not Racist" by Joyner Lucas. When the rap song was released along with its video in late 2017, everyone had an opinion about it. The song received about as much negative feedback as it did positive. CNN said this was "the brutal race conversation no one wants to have" whereas Vulture called the song "exhausting." Regardless of the nature of the feedback, the song accomplished its goal of starting a conversation about racism. At least that seems to be Lucas's purpose considering the shocking nature of the lyrics. One thing we can be sure of is that this viral hit got the attention of a great deal of people. As soon as we hit the play button, we are met with a white man in a bright red "Make America Great Again" hat. With this image, we can already assume that this man is a supporter of Donald Trump, which is uncommon in the world of hip hop and makes him seem out of place. When he starts lip syncing to the …show more content…

Each line is a direct rebuttal to something said by the Trump supporter. "With all disrespect I don't really like you white...that's just where I'm at" is how the verse begins and already we see both similarities and differences to the first verse. While the black man is just as disrespectful as the white man, the black man makes no attempt to cover it up or soften the blow. "Screaming 'All Lives Matter' is a protest to my protest," he continues. The All Lives Matter (ALM) movement has been an arguable one since it began. The problem with the ALM movement is that it was created in response to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. ALM does not create a solution for the problem being protested against in the BLM movement. BLM has never meant that any other lives do not matter, just that black lives matter too. ALM only draws attention from BLM's purpose and essentially creates more of a problem than a

Open Document