Be Free

Hey everyone! So in my introductory post, I mentioned that I will be talking about certain events like the Trayvon Martin shooting or the Mike Brown shooting. I also mentioned that I will be talking about certain movies and songs such as Be Free by J.Cole. In today's post, I would like to talk about Be Free. 

I love this song. I find it so deep and emotional coming from a rapper and hip hop artist like J.Cole. It is very moving and has great lyrics especially one of my favourite lines "all we wanna do is take the chains off". When I first listened to that part of the song, I was so touched. It reminded me that how discrimination was back then, is not much different then now. Yes, we have come a long way, but according to recent events such as the shootings and the Ferguson attack, history continues to repeat itself.

Now for a little bit of information on the song. J.Cole, inspired by the shooting of Mike Brown by police officers as well as the Ferguson attack, composed this song overnight, August 15th, 2014. Unlike his other music, it's not a hip hop or rap song. I'ts more of him singing raw lyrics with a slight beat in the backround. 

"Rest in peace to Michael Brown and every young black man murdered in America, whether by the hands of white or black. I pray that one day the world will be filled with peace and rid of injustice. Only then will we all Be Free." said J. Cole based on his song and the discriminatory acts against the black community.

I personally think that you all should listen to this song. It's great. It is so deep and moving with they way he really tells it how it is. It gets everyone to think twice about how to treat one another. I also love J.Cole and his music. He is so lyrically talented, but even without the rap in this song, I think it is the best track he's ever made just because of the touching, emotional lyrics.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/16/arts/music/j-coles-be-free-spreads-around-the-world-in-hours.html?_r=0

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/08/15/rapper-j-cole-releases-be-free-inspired-by-michael-brown-shooting/

xx until next time xx

Trayvon Martin Shooting

Hey everyone, it's been awhile since I've posted anything. But, my last post was about the song Be Free by J.Cole. Within that song I mentioned the shooting of Trayvon Martin, in which the song Be Free was also partially inspired by. So today I will be writing about the Trayvon Martin Shooting which is what initiated the protesting and racial defense that we have all been observing lately such as the stand ups "Black Lives Matter" as well as the Ferguson defence.

February 26, 2012, 17 year old, African American teenager Trayvon Martin was shot during an altercation with one of his community neighbours' George Zimmerman. Zimmerman who was on neighbourhood watch within their gated community the night the shooting, saw Trayvon wandering about and supposedly looked "sketchy". He said that Trayvon was the one to approach him violently so Zimmerman acted in self defense and shot the young man, believing he was armed. In my opinion, that is not okay. Trayvon was an unarmed teenager and Zimmerman should not have to shoot him and the result being his death.


In my opinion, I find it extremely unfair that a young man lost his life because of racism, while someone was supposedly acting in "self defence" when the young man wasn't even armed. And the only consequence Zimmerman got was murder charges after it became such a national issue. If it weren't for the story to spread as much as it did, Zimmerman would have probably never got the murder charges, six weeks later. I find it sickening that someone could get away with a murder like that. 

This shooting started the movement "Black lives matter" and that is so unbelievably important considering the world we live in now. We are in the 21st century people, why can't the racism stop? Because it's true, Black Lives Matter.

xx until next time xx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Trayvon_Martin
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/trayvon-martin-shooting-a-timeline-of-events/

Introduction

            Hey everyone, so this is my first blog and i feel like i wanted it to be about something that is important to me as well as relevant to our everyday lives. Therefore, i chose black history discrimination as my topic. Not many people know, i am from African american decent so this subject means a lot to me because it relates to what my family has come across in the past and without racial equality, i wouldn't be here. As much as it relates to me, this subject has also blown up in the media the past couple of years with the Trayvon Martin shooting, the Mike Brown police shooting, the Ferguson attack as well as other public rants or attacks, in which i will be writing about throughout this blog
. 
           I will also be talking about movies that have relation to black history discrimination and equality, such as 12 years a slave (which is the movie that came to mind when asked what subject i wanted to write about. It was what really inspired me to talk about this problem other than my family's past), the color purple and others. I would also like to mention popular songs that have relations to this subject, whether it was in the past, for example Black or White by Michael Jackson, or songs more recent like Be Free by J.Cole. I will mostly be writing about things that have sent a message to others bout this subject. This subject was and still is extremely relevant to our lives considering all the recent events, lives lost and unkindly discrimination and racism over something genetic that we don't have control over. It seems unfair and unnecessary to act upon, therefore, i'm going to write about it through this blog. whether many or only a few people see it, the problem in this subject needs to become more relevant to everyone.

xx until next time xx