African American Injustice

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Recommended: Hip-Hop Culture and Contemporary Race Relations

Race and feelings of injustice are intertwined into the very roots of hip hop music. African-Americans have long felt exploited and undervalued and have further used hip hop as an outlet and a form of media to portray their feelings of injustice. Killer Mike, Tef Poe, and Gyasi Ross write about “whiteness” and the privilege associated to demonstrate that a majority group’s privilege is actually a method to suppress and ignore the people below, causing many in need to feel demoralized and broken. “Whiteness” is a social construct that portrays people of Caucasian descent as elite, more intelligent, more abled bodied people than people of color. Furthermore, “whiteness” has been used as a way of segregating people of ability and importance …show more content…

Gyassi Ross in the song “White Privilege III” he responds to Macklemore’s song “White Privilege” by writing, “White privilege is making a song out of someone else’s pain/ Making a million off of it, then doing it again/ Find a new cause next time, this is all personal gain” (69-71). “Privilege” is the ability to act with immunity or with advantage regardless of whether or not what the individual is doing is just. “Privilege” is the advantage many whites have, allowing whites to feel safe, without judgment, or being characterized in a negative light. “Pain” is the feeling of neglect and abuse people in need feel. “Pain” is the feeling many people without privilege feel — a feeling of hopelessness and defeat. A “cause” is an awareness program that educates people on an option and hopefully strives to eradicate or assist in the issue at hand. A “cause” is how people in the media look at “Black Lives Matter,” but a cause that only further exacerbates the problem and exploits the situation. “Gain” is to increase one’s wealth or status through a venture of some sort. A “gain” is the feeling those who exploit the police brutality issue feel, only to increase their status and hinder those at need from rising up. The media has consistently taken advantage of those in need, only to increase their wealth and viewership, all while negating the harsh reality and feelings of hopelessness those in need

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