I wondered what to add to the conversation around Macklemore's newest attempt to be a public white ally. The historically marginalized Black Lives Matters' official blog put it better than I ever could:
Macklemore’s single, “White Privilege II” has prompted a conversation on and offline about white people, their privilege, their role in the movement and the co-optation of the Black experience. We listened to the song and concluded that while this song is not for us, we appreciate the effort. This song, as we understand it, is a call from white people to white people to deepen their understanding and commitment to living an anti-racist life and working explicitly to end systemic racism by showing up for Black lives. If we understand it correctly, good. We applaud Macklemore and his team for using their privilege and platform to push this important conversation.
As the Movement for Black Lives continues to swell, people are finding new and nuanced ways to plug-in. From teach-ins to yoga to music and art, Black Lives Matter activists, demonstrators, and allies are committed to collectively working for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension all people.
Through this work, we remain persistent in urging non-Black, anti-racist communities to organize themselves and their people in the fight for Black lives and liberation. The turbulent road to civil rights has long been paved with the support and resistance of allies and their significance in this struggle cannot be overstated.
We are committed to acknowledging, respecting, and celebrating differences and commonalities among the people in protest, dissent, and resistance to anti-black systems. And we would be remiss not to acknowledge the irony in Macklemore’s calling out of the co-optation of Black creative properties, namely music while similarly co-opting it. It is peculiar behavior, and we hope Macklemore and other white artists seriously consider how their exploitation of our music impacts our social and economic growth.
SIMILAR SONGS
