President Donald Trump has recently made comments about the NFL and its players concerning participation in the National Anthem and its relationship to Patriotism. The true message that is being sent to all Americans that actively follow the sport of football, is the lack of acknowledged prejudices law enforcement and other government entities have implemented against minorities. Taking a knee is no more disrespectful then having a shirt made from American Flag patterned clothing or showing loyalty to other flags like the confederate flag. Its not an attack on the flag because no one is protesting the symbolic yet inanimate object that is merely a symbol. Football players and citizens around the nation are protesting the senseless killings of African Americans and the discrimination of other minority groups in America. This plan to make America great again is crippling social icons like NFL players while telling immigrants they are not welcome in our country. Its ruining things on a large global scale in small ways the divisiveness in this country, is expanding with this curent administration.
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The message in rap music is clear get money, sleep with the most attractive women, kill the opposition or "ops" literally and participate in using or distributing drugs. Hip hop/rap/trap music has these central themes all over it. However that does not mean that these genres should act as an instruction manual to doing so. Since the late 80's and early 90's groups and individuals like (NWA Tupac and Biggie) have been figures in their communities. Gangster rappers have produced music that creates a depiction of the environment many African/Hispanic Americans and other minority groups live in. These environments have names like, the ghetto,the hood, the barrios,the block,the streets, etc... the more important idea is how these areas were developed form social construct. While being grotesquely stigmatized as a a entity in society these habitable areas also hold some grave truths that are universal. It seems to me that every beginning has a different ending but people of color have always had misinterpretations of their culture in the form of their oppression, triumphs,and experiences. Why were gangs formed, why are minorities involved with government assistance aid, why are the majority of impoverished people people of color. I believe it all stems from their place in society form the beginning. Rap music is poetry and maybe the aesthetic of it has been lost but it speaks for the people. It numbs the pain of reality and on a more simple level it gives hope to some of those in the struggle.
So much like the majority of my classes i was the only black student and also one of the only males in my southern Literature Class an upper level course. The majority of the literature we read came from authors like Robert Penn Warren and William Faulkner where narratives about infrastructure and culture that strictly excluded African Americans was being studied and analyzed. For a Grade. I had an open mind with the curriculum and definitely in the discussion circles. I adored the professor a very proud and admirable Woman. She was nothing shy of an ideal perfect role model for southern Women. But FUCK that class. I had to read The word nigger other derogatory terms at least 10 times a day and remember the context that it was related to. History is important and is preserved in many ways other than artifacts and documents. literature combined with specific rhetoric has influence and holds truths as well as myths about the past.
I had just gotten back from a music festival and i was eager to do away with any memories of the urban Atlanta. Me and my girlfriend at the time took a day trip to the ichetucknee river in North Florida. The river is categorized as a spring and is actually composed of spring water. The water was freezing and i had just got done enjoying a warm bud light mixed with a herb of the exotic variety. I remember the stresses of school and how those anxieties drifted away much like the canoe i was floating in. I jammed out to classic and psychedelic rock the whole ride there it was almost like Stevie Nicks and Jimi Hendrix were backseat on a double date with my girlfriend and I.
So it came to me one day i happen to think hey... I am a member of a minority group that has defied harsh odds a set of peoples who have overcome oppression on a large scale but there are others. Latino or Mexican Americans have suffered for just as long as African americans and have fought for equality in the same ways Blacks have. Last year i was tasked to cover small town Tifton, Georgia's first attempt at protesting the Trump administration's unruly legislation that will essentially target all latino immigrants as well as already legal citizens in the most grotesque way. My story was not filmed as professionally as i would have wanted it to. The lighting was off and the audio could have been a better all throughout the story but the story was an important one. I decided to publish it on the school's owned media outlet.
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Author(Drayton Holmes) I'm a student at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College in the process of obtaining a bachelor's degree in Rural Studies and writing communication. I Aspire to work with media that helps fight for social justice and all around noble causes among the masses. Archives
January 2018
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