Friday, July 23, 2010

listen to anti-racist music


It's Friday! How about some music?

Here's a video by Jasiri X called "What if the Tea Party was Black" (lyrics below).

Got any other anti-racist music to recommend in the comments?

YouTube says,

A few months ago, Tim Wise wrote a widely circulated article called, "Imagine if the Tea Party Was Black" which challenged America to take a close look at the hypocrisy of the Right Wing. Now, a Pittsburgh rapper is accepting his challenge in true Hip Hop form. Jasiri X has released a video called "What if the Tea Party was Black." The Hip Hop artist says that he got the idea when Paradise,a member of the pro-black rap group X-Clan, forwarded him a copy of Wise's article. "I saw the article and I liked the concept," says the rapper. So Jasiri hit the studio with producer Cynik Lethal while Paradise grabbed his video camera and they went on their mission to defeat the Right Wing propaganda machine.

Here's the video. Jasiri X has also done a followup piece (here), responding to the critics in the 1500+ comments inspired by this one.



LYRICS

What if the tea party was black
Holding guns like the Black Panther Party was back
If Al was Rush Limbaugh and Jesse was Sean Hannity
And Tavis was Glenn Beck would you harm they families
If Sarah Palin was suddenly Sistah Souljah
Would you leave it to the voters or go and get the soldiers
Yall know if the tea party was black
The government would have been had the army attack

What if Michael Baisden was on ya FM dial
For 3 hours every day calling the president foul
Would they say free speech or find evidence how
To charge him with treason like see he's unamerican now
What if Minister Farrakhan prayed for the death
Of the commander in chief that he be laid to rest
Would they treat it as the gravest threat or never make an arrest
Even today he's still hated for less
What if President Obama would have lost the election
Quit his job so he could go talk to the left and
Bash the government for being off of direction
Fraught with deception
And told black people they want all of our weapons
And we want our own country and called for secession
Would he be arrested and tossed in corrections
For trying to foster aggression
Against the people's lawful selection
Our questions

What if the tea party was black
Holding guns like the Black Panther Party was back
If Al was Rush Limbaugh and Jesse was Sean Hannity
And Tavis was Glenn Beck would you harm they families
If Sarah Palin was suddenly Sistah Souljah
Would you leave it to the voters or go and get the soldiers
Yall know if the tea party was black
The government would have been had the army attack

What If black people went on Facebook and made a page
That for the death of the president elect we prayed
Would the creators be tazed and thrown in a cage
We know the page wouldn't have been displayed all these days
What if Jeremiah Wright said that everybody white
Wasn't a real Americna would you feel scared of him
If he had a militia with pictures that depict the president as Hitler
They would kill and bury that
Wait
What if Cynthia McKinney lamented the winning of the new president
And hinted he wasn't really a true resident
With no proof or evidence
Would the media treat it like a huge press event
They would have attacked whatever group she represents
They would have called her a kook on precedent
And any network that gave her due preference
Would be the laughing stock of the news so our question is

What if the tea party was black
Holding guns like the Black Panther Party was back
If Al was Rush Limbaugh and Jesse was Sean Hannity
And Tavis was Glenn Beck would you harm they families
If Sarah Palin was suddenly Sistah Souljah
Would you leave it to the voters or go and get the soldiers
Yall know if the tea party was black
The government would have been had the army attack


h/t: Scott McLemee @ Crooked Timber

8 comments:

  1. I do not know if you would classify it as "anti-racist music" per se, but En Vogue "Free Your Mind" does send a message about the falsity of stereotyping individuals.
    By the way, I really enjoyed this song and the response video Jasiri X made. I posted it on my blog as well (with a referral back to this one). Although I am not a huge President Obama fan (he is part of the 99.9% of US politicians who are too "conservative" for my tastes), I do appreciate that his presidency has been criticized based more on his race than on his actual policies, and it is awful.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh shit glen beck really said Obama's policies were reparations?

    ReplyDelete
  3. i am starting to think some white people are losing it. I mean if your going to make accusations at president Obama, at least make them sound like it's resonable.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I came across this song the other day, it's the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

    This one's not specifically anti-racist, but still pretty friendly.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great video... very well done! thoughtful and insightful.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Invincible
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze-S5Wz0iTc

    and Janelle Monae have been in my cd player recently

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHgbzNHVg0c

    ReplyDelete
  7. wow, good look on invincible

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow! Thanks for posting that Janelle Monae video mical!

    I had previously only associated her with the "We are Young" song that someone at my job played over and over again the point where I don't care to hear it for another year. My exposure to mainstream media is kinda limited so I'm just now discovering the rest of her work.

    There are so many layers of meaning and emotion to the words, images and symbolism in that video and. There's a whole world in there. I just spent a few hours exploring more of her music and watching interviews. She's amazing!


    But to get back to the point on the theme of the video in the OP, this article http://www.salon.com/2013/01/14/the_nra_once_supported_gun_control/ validates some of the points made by the video and also brings to light some of the complexity and weirdness around the issues of firearms, law enforcement and race in the US.

    ReplyDelete

Please see the "commenting guidelines" before submitting a comment.

hit counter code