Use Your Voice

Chapter 3 of "From Voice to Influence" by Allen and Light caught my attention for various reasons, mainly due to the discussion of impure dissent. Never in my life have I heard of such a term, but immediately it sounds pretty negative. I honestly hate that the word "impure" is even attached, especially seeing as it is in relation to oppressed individuals. From what I can gather, political dissent refers to any "negative" expression that is in response to disagreement from politics. What makes something "impure" is a message that encourages the oppressed to act transgressively.

 According to Allen and Light, hip hop and rap is usually classified as being morally and politically impure because of its similarity to civil disobedience that may be displayed (Allen and Light 67). Immediately, I went to google and typed "rap songs with political messages"to see for myself what types of messages were being conveyed. I came across the song "Alright" by Kendrick Lamar, and after reading the lyrics, I found the song to be powerful. I do not believe the song to be "impure", even though it would contextually be considered that way. I am not politically offended by the content of the song, in contrast, I found it to be uplifting. In the song, Lamar is expressing his struggles as a minority, and reassuring his audience that everything will be okay. There is mention of police brutality in the song, and even features anti police lyrics. The music video is just as powerful, and features Lamar on top of a police car as a form of protest, which caused an uproar among certain individuals. I came across a quote from FoxNews anchor Geraldo Rivera who expressed his dislike in the message of the song and the music video, “This is why I say that hip-hop has done more damage to young African-Americans than racism in recent years. This is exactly the wrong message.” I highly disagree with Rivera's comment. In general, music is a form of expression, and Lamar is simply expressing his voice. Lamar is expressing all of the hurt that oppressed minorites experience. Lamar's lyrics are very raw and real.

 While many chose to deny the reality that is police brutality and racial profiling, it is a very real thing in many communities. Individuals like Rivera may be blind to seeing the underlying message of hope that is featured in Lamar's song, and they may chose to focus on the 'politicly hurtful' aspects. In 2015, the song "Alright" was being sung by individuals participating in the Black Lives Matter protests. "Activists from all over America chanted “we gon’ be alright” to mourn the countless black people killed by police in 2015 and provide hope for a better future" (Harris). I think it's truly amazing that Lamar's song had such a powerful impact, it is exactly the type of song that many individuals need to keep their spirits up. Lamar is also spreading awareness to the wide audience that listens to his music, seeing as he is wildly popular among many ages, genders, and cultures. His music can make a difference by shedding light to someone who lacks awareness about the horrors of police brutality, and it may also inspire others to do more research and actively spread the word and inform others with the hopes of making a change. Use your voice! #Blacklivesmatter

 Kendrick Lamar "Alright" lyrics: http://www.metrolyrics.com/alright-lyrics-kendrick-lamar.html

 https://consequenceofsound.net/2015/06/fox-news-says-kendrick-lamar-has-done-more-damage-to-young-african-americans-than-racism/

 http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2015/08/black_lives_matter_protesters_chant_kendrick_lamar_s_alright_what_makes.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Can Awareness Be Spread Without Talking About the Cause?

The article “What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Service” by Adam Davis is an interesting piece that discusses the idea that community service/engagement should NOT be openly talked about because it takes away from the service, and steers it in an ego boosting direction.  I find the claims Davis makes as quite negative and not entirely true. Davis states, “It seems to be so clear that Service Is Good (SIG) that we do not need to question service or to talk about it; we only need to do it. It even seems that talking about service might be a problem—first, because if you’re talking about service, you might not be doing service, and second, because if you’re talking about service, you might start to wonder about its goodness”. Yes, some individuals may use community service as a way to enhance their ego among peers, but not everyone is like that! Talking about service is not a bad thing, if anything, I believe talking about service helps spread the word about the cause, especiall
Read more

Killer Millennials

So for my last blog post, I think it is fitting to touch on a topic that we covered in the beginning of our senior seminar course. The topic is of course non other than millennials! I recently stumbled upon this video on Youtube that is all about Millennials. The video aims to focus on explaining why millennials are 'hurting the diamond industry', many of which include the fact that the diamond industry exploit minors, ruins the eco system. And lastly, diamonds are an item that have an arbitrary value. It is all marketing! Diamonds essentially have no value! Millennials are also the generation that dealt with the toughest economy since previous generations, and they earn 20% less due to that. Not to mention that Millennials are stacked with student loans, and it doesn't help that the Government keeps trying to take away our health care, and all of the other services offered to help individuals. In conclusion, millennials are more aware of the negatives associated with diamo
Read more

Reflective Blog #2

On Friday, October 13th our group made the trip out to 916 Ink, and we explored the imaginarium along with interviewing some of the staff members. My initial reaction of the imaginaruim was simply WOW! It was such a beautiful space that was carefully crafted with so many details. I absolutely loved all of the details such as little boxes filled with starfish and other knick-nacks, typewriters, and a huge amount of books. Creativity definitely fills the room, and I can see how students might be influenced to think and write creatively in such an amazing space. The vision behind 916 Ink and their desire to help youth through literacy is amazing, and I truly want more youth to get involved! Our group is currently working on helping 916 Ink get more youth involved in the workshops. While interviewing Henry, he explained how participation at workshops has been lacking. For the new media plan, our group is proposing a revamp in the social media area; we think 916 Ink can be more active on
Read more