Racial discrimination is a subject that is blatant within our society. Studies say that it may even be embedded within our psyche. What we fail to acknowledged though, is that the social war on racial inequality is still a large issue in America that effects and discourages today’s youth into making them believe they will never escape the cycle of poverty. Oppression can be a creative force. How you handle the force of oppression is based on the attitude and determination of the oppressed and this attitude can give a new voice to break the chain of oppression.
An article written recently by Marc Lamont Hill and uploaded to the CNN website brings up the idea that, “white supremacy is embedded deeply within our collective psyches and our social …show more content…
Shoichet features a poll regarding the opinion on racism being a large problem in America. 49% of Americans believe racism is in fact a big problem. Though today’s racism is not as radical as the stories in the poems Incident by Countee Cullen and Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall, it is still the dividend to social classes and social equality. But these low numbers of socially aware individuals is what is the fuel for artists in today’s modern age to create works of art that allow people to understand that minorities refuse to be ashamed of their race. Their grandparents did not march for police brutality to still be an issue regarding minorities. They marched for them to grow up proud with their heads held high and with their hearts filled with pride. They marched so they would be able to say they were a race other than white and allow confidence to overflow once they declared they were a minority. Songs like Beyonce’s “Formation” and “Q.U.E.E.N.” by Janelle Monae are anthems for today’s black youth. The songs includes empowering lyrics like, “I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros. I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils,” and, “Even if it makes other uncomfortable, I will love who I am.” The exposure of lyrics like this are a way of taking back the discrimination and owning it. When you learn to own the hate and the oppression and allow it to fuel you, you are unstoppable …show more content…
Barrack Obama, a man who defied oppression and became the first African American president of the United States, is aware of these issues. He listens and allows himself to be informed because he knows America has room to grow and flourish many times more in order to become the beautiful nation where “all men are created equal.” Musicians like Janelle Monae are willing to question and call out the public on the mistreatment of minorities. Examples of social oracles fill her songs such as, “Are we a lost generation of our people? Add us to equations but they 'll never make us equal.” Questioning of the social inequality that is still alive and well in America is present as well with lines like, “why the stealing of my rights ain’t made illegal?” And the declaration of not backing down in lyrics such as, “categorize me, I defy every label,” is what truly makes musicians like Janelle Monae an example of rising above the oppression.
Poetry, music, literature, and politics are ways of how we can become aware of social war on racial inequality that we fail to acknowledge America. How it effects and discourages today’s youth into making them believe they will never escape the cycle of poverty is something we can only work together, as a nation, to fix. And though oppression is both destructive
An article written recently by Marc Lamont Hill and uploaded to the CNN website brings up the idea that, “white supremacy is embedded deeply within our collective psyches and our social …show more content…
Shoichet features a poll regarding the opinion on racism being a large problem in America. 49% of Americans believe racism is in fact a big problem. Though today’s racism is not as radical as the stories in the poems Incident by Countee Cullen and Ballad of Birmingham by Dudley Randall, it is still the dividend to social classes and social equality. But these low numbers of socially aware individuals is what is the fuel for artists in today’s modern age to create works of art that allow people to understand that minorities refuse to be ashamed of their race. Their grandparents did not march for police brutality to still be an issue regarding minorities. They marched for them to grow up proud with their heads held high and with their hearts filled with pride. They marched so they would be able to say they were a race other than white and allow confidence to overflow once they declared they were a minority. Songs like Beyonce’s “Formation” and “Q.U.E.E.N.” by Janelle Monae are anthems for today’s black youth. The songs includes empowering lyrics like, “I like my baby heir with baby hair and afros. I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils,” and, “Even if it makes other uncomfortable, I will love who I am.” The exposure of lyrics like this are a way of taking back the discrimination and owning it. When you learn to own the hate and the oppression and allow it to fuel you, you are unstoppable …show more content…
Barrack Obama, a man who defied oppression and became the first African American president of the United States, is aware of these issues. He listens and allows himself to be informed because he knows America has room to grow and flourish many times more in order to become the beautiful nation where “all men are created equal.” Musicians like Janelle Monae are willing to question and call out the public on the mistreatment of minorities. Examples of social oracles fill her songs such as, “Are we a lost generation of our people? Add us to equations but they 'll never make us equal.” Questioning of the social inequality that is still alive and well in America is present as well with lines like, “why the stealing of my rights ain’t made illegal?” And the declaration of not backing down in lyrics such as, “categorize me, I defy every label,” is what truly makes musicians like Janelle Monae an example of rising above the oppression.
Poetry, music, literature, and politics are ways of how we can become aware of social war on racial inequality that we fail to acknowledge America. How it effects and discourages today’s youth into making them believe they will never escape the cycle of poverty is something we can only work together, as a nation, to fix. And though oppression is both destructive