8 songs that provide context to police violence protests
As protests against police violence toward the black community continue in Athens and around the country, there is a growing call for people to become more educated on these issues. The Red & Black has compiled a list of songs that contextualize the history and sentiments behind these demonstrations.
This Is America by Childish Gambino (2018)
Summed up: “This Is America” is a direct commentary on violence against black people in America. In his lyrics, Childish Gambino references police violence towards Stephon Clark who was shot eight times after police assumed the cell phone in his hand was a weapon in March 2018.
Notable lyric: “This is America (skrrt, skrrt, woo)/Don’t catch you slippin’ now (ayy)/Look how I’m livin’ now/Police be trippin’ now (woo)”
Ascension by Gorillaz featuring Vince Staples (2017)
Summed up: “Ascension” talks about how the world is coming to an end by touching on police violence and how the world harshly discriminates against black Americans
Notable lyric: "I’m just playin’ baby this the land of the free/Where you can get a Glock and a gram for the cheap/Where you can live your dreams long as you don’t look like me"
XXX. by Kendrick Lamar featuring U2 (2017)
Summed up: Song 11 on Kendrick Lamar’s Pulitzer Prize-winning album, “DAMN.,” dives into how structural racism affects black Americans.
Notable lyric: “You overnight the big rifles, then tell Fox to be scared of us/Gang members or terrorists, et cetera, et cetera/America’s reflection of me that’s what a mirror does”
Neighbors by J. Cole (2016)
Summed up: On March 18, 2016 J. Cole’s house he rented to use as a studio was raided by a SWAT team in North Carolina after neighbors complained about the house being used to sell drugs, according to Genius. No one was in the house at the time of the raid and no drugs were found, J. Cole’s producer Elite told Complex.
Notable lyric: “Can’t sleep ‘cause I’m paranoid/Black in a white man territory/Cops bust in with the army guns/No evidence of the harm we done”
They Don't Care About Us by Michael Jackson (1995)
Summed up: “They Don’t Care About Us” was written to bring awareness to racism and violence against oppressed groups.
Notable lyric: “I’m tired of being the victim of hate/You’re ripping me of my pride, oh, for God’s sake/I look to heaven to fulfill its prophecy, set me free”
The Death of Emmett Till by Bob Dylan
Summed up: In this song, Dylan retells the story of 14-year-old Emmett Till who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955 after allegedly flirting with a white woman.
Notable lyric: “Some men they dragged him to a barn and there they beat him up/They said they had a reason, but I can’t remember what/They tortured him and did some evil things to evil to repeat/There was screaming sounds inside the barn, there was laughing sounds out on the street”
Police State by Dead Prez (2000)
Summed up: A police state is “characterized by repressive governmental control of political, economic and social life usually by an arbitrary exercise of power by police... in place of regular operation of administrative and judicial organs of the government according to publicly known legal procedures,” according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. In his song, Prez is calling attention to how black Americans live in a police state.
Notable lyric: “FBI spying on us through radio antennas/And them hidden cameras in the streetlight watching society/With no respect to people’s right to privacy”
White Privilege II by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis featuring Jamila Woods (2016)
Summed up: The almost nine-minute song dives deep into white privilege as Macklemore wonders whether he is doing too much or not enough in supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. He also discusses cultural appropriation of hip-hop by white artists and the intentions of white people behind their activism.
Notable lyric: “Some of us are scared, some of us defensive/And most of us aren’t even paying attention/It seems like we’re more concerned with being called racist/Than we actually are with racism”
https://www.redandblack.com/culture/8-songs-that-provide-context-to-police-violence-protests/article_160dfef6-a52d-11ea-99b2-637c067bbdb0.html
(Red & Black is a college newspaper in Georgia. This article was posted today.)