Racism in Present Day America
Who created this message?
The music video for "This World" was created by Cory Mo, a Houston-based music producer, as well as Zaytoven, a producer based out of Atlanta. It is one of the single's off of Mo and Bun B's album Mo Trill.
What creative techniques are used to attract my attention?
At the beginning of the video, a young Black man is wearing a shirt that reads Unapologetically Black next to the rapper Bun B while Bun is giving a speech. The video shows a picture from the news of the cops charged in the murder of George Floyd. The video shows multiple signs from protests, such as one stating "White silence is violence", and another telling onlookers to "Say Her Name", a reference to Breonna Taylor, who was shot dead in her home while sleeping. A supersized "Trump Lies All the Time" sign is shown at one point in the video. Raw footage of cops using their batons on protesting citizens is used multiple times during the video to envoke an emotional response. There are numerous images in the video juxtaposing the insurrecti0n on 6 January with pictures from protests for the BLM movement. The video ends with a clip of Derek Chauvin in court, followed by one of then-President-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris winning the Presidential election.
The lyrics are especially moving, so I'm going to include them here in case anyone cares to read them:
I've seen joy and pain in this world (This world)
I'm just tryin' to remain in this world (This world)
I even pray to God for change in this world
I've seen some troubling times in this world
'Cause my Black life matters in this world (This world, this world, this world)
'Til we're equal in this world
Power to the people in this world (This world, this world)
[Bun B:]
Been walking down the wicked streets of America, who'd have thought
That the fight for basic civil rights was still left to be fought
Even after we lost Huey, Hampton, Martin, and Malcolm
To racist elite power structures whiter than talcum?
See, they've been treatin' my people like they ain't equal
Since the slave ships and now we livin' in a sequel
Talkin' 'bout 'em lynchin' us, burnin' us and killin' us
For 400 years, and man, they still ain't feelin' us!
Systemic racism, economic and judicial
Plus killer cops attacking us daily, pulling their pistol
So now mayne it's official, we've got to take a stand
Every time they kill a Black woman or a Black man
[Raheem DeVaughn:]
I've seen joy and pain in this world (This world)
I'm just tryin' to remain in this world (This world)
I even pray to God for change in this world
I've seen some troubling times in this world
'Cause my Black life matters in this world (This world, this world, this world)
'Til we're equal in this world
Power to the people in this world (This world, this world)
[Big K.R.I.T:]
The blacker the berry, the more weight to carry on these shoulders of ours
While the candles burn dimly on corners, as we mourn the slain with bouquets of flowers
As the killers go free, no matter the footage we see and vivid the pictures
I just pray for the mothers and fathers that bury their babies, find comfort in scriptures
And destroy the fiends and killers
We more kings and queens then n****s
Ain't no tweets or memes can heal us
Only we can protect the village and bless the children with knowledge and truth
Strengthen the roots, the struggle is proof, the cutting the noose
The living the life, the power to fight, to the power to be
They point and they shoot
And the cameras gon point at the looters like we ain't been peacefully protesting
Like we ain't been tired of seeing people dying and they ain't get no justice
Like a building on fire is worth way more than lives and a family that's crying feel hopelessness
Cause the system is built off racism we knowing
And that system been broken
[Raheem DeVaughn:]
I've seen joy and pain in this world (This world)
I'm just tryin' to remain in this world (This world)
I even pray to God for change in this world
I've seen some troubling times in this world
'Cause my Black life matters in this world (This world, this world, this world)
'Til we're equal in this world
Power to the people in this world (This world, this world)
[Trae Tha Truth:]
I done seen too much through the times
Crazy days going through my mind
Same color, same skin folk
Murdered till they [?] my kind
What about Breonna Taylor?
Killed in her home, no one to save her
From the same people that's supposed to protect us
They let them walk free like it ain't nothing major
Cold world, big Floyd shook the whole globe up
Front line, be damned if I fold up
This pressure season can't hold up
They know it's real when I roll up
I'll take this fight, any day, any time
All this anger that I got on my mind
Endangered species, ain't nothing here fine
No open racists like we out here blind
Say they name, say they name
All these days I'm sick of pain
Can't find a light, I'm sick of rain
Until this is right, I'm gon complain
It's hard but I've got to make it better
Even with the odds against me, it's whatever
Go hard, it ain't nothing I would rather
This us, we gon do this shit together
How might different people interpret this message differently than me?
This video is DEFINITELY meant to rub some people the wrong way, such as racists and Trump supporters. It is made to highlight the struggle Black individuals are made to endure everyday in "This World". Americans who got offended by Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem would probably be offended, as they see themselves as the only ones who decide what is and isn't "patriotic". I say this because the song starts with reference to "the wicked streets of America".
What viewpoints or world views are included or left out of this message?
The viewpoint in the lyrics as well as in the video are from the voices of young Black men and women in America. White voices are left out of the message, but then again, for the most part, so are other voices. To me (my view being that of a white man), the song is from Black men to Black people, saying, "We understand what you're going through, because a lot of what we have had to experience in a predominantly white culture has been the same."
Why is this message being sent?
This message is being sent because of the amount of violence aimed at Black people in America, which for the most part has gone unchecked. More often than not, this is at the hand of the people who are sworn to protect, the police. The video and song itself are the tools the artists use to say that they are sick of it, and that it won't be tolerated anymore.