Macklemore White Privilege Two Analysis

Rodriquez, for example, argues that white people use colorblind ideology to justify their presence in the hip-hop community by removing the racial messages found in lyrics and replacing them with colorblind ones (p.1). Not only does this argument assume that all white people cannot and do not understanding the racial messages found within the lyrics, it also does not use the correct definition of cultural appropriation. As stated above, cultural appropriation implies that a dominant culture is taking an aspect of a subordinate culture and incorporating it into their own. Given this definition, white people simply listening to and enjoying hip-hop music cannot be considered cultural appropriation. In fact, according to Androutsopoulos and Scholz (2003), the appropriation of hip-hop begins not when fans listen to the music, but start to reproduce it for themselves

Whiteness Before the social justice seminar, I never gave much thought as to my identity as a White person. As Tatum (2017) explored, however, this commonality of silence in White communities has had negative impacts, for “Whites tend to think of racial identity as something that other people have, not something that is salient for them”

Following the economically successful post-WWII period, the 1960s decade was characterized by the upheaval of American norms at the time. No longer would various groups of people conform to the legislation and social norms of the United States. The Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement best illustrated this resistance against the status quo. Although these movements were made up of similar people, their tactics were immensely different. The Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement provided a foundation for student activism on college campuses.

He also writes about the nature of people or consumers, explaining that his friends are only going to be there when he is popular but once “the shit hits the fan” they show that they have been exploiting him for his talents. Def later on writes, “The industry just a better built cell block” which implies that the music industry traps artists. They strip artist of their free thinking and creativity, and makes them property which strips their identity. The music industry have been exploiting rappers and other artist for a long time. The Genius/GZA has a song called “Labels” were here raps about these labels wanting to practically own these artists.

In Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the doctor tells Mr. Norton and the narrator about how neither of them can see the real other. The doctor says to Mr. Norton, “To you he is a mark on the scorecard of your achievement, a thing and not a man; a child…” (pg 95). The doctor means that, generally, to white folks African Americans or those of another race are looked down upon and sometimes not even considered to be a real human; they are invisible. Successful white men, such as Mr. Norton, usually do not care about the African Americans they helped raise in some way, shape, or form; they only care about how it looks for their list of achievements. The doctor also says, “And you, for all your power, are not a man to him, but a God, a force—“ (pg

The Black Lives Matter movement does not align with the “sanitized” version of the Civil Rights movement, which in the eyes of white people has become the only acceptable form of black politics (Hooker, BLM & Paradox). The current acts of black politics offend too much, but in a way that is the point. Black people’s job is not to protect white feelings; no matter how much white people think it is. Black politics is how black people are able to express their terror and anger into political statements. It also has the power to radically change the face of American democracy, but white people are too afraid of becoming the

“Someone once asked me how I hold my head up so high after all I have been through. I said it’s because no matter what, I am a survivor. Not a victim” (Patricia Buckley). In the article “The Color of Success”, the book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, and the Montgomery bus boycott all have something in common; they all have someone who refused to play the part of a victim. In “The Color of Success” written by Eric Watts talks about how he was not taken seriously as an African American man because he acted too white.

But the minute you step outside, race matters. But we don’t talk about it. We don’t even tell our white partners the small things that piss us off and the things we wish they understood better, because we’re worried they will say we’re overreacting, or we’re being too sensitive. And we don’t want them to say, Look how far we’ve come, just forty years ago it would have been illegal for us to even be a couple blah blah blah, because you know what we’re thinking when they say that? We’re thinking why the fuck should it ever have been illegal anyway?

This also relates to the trope of blindness and sight, for white people only see what they want to see, they do not see black people for the individuals they really are. In the

Wilson illustrates Troy’s anger when he writes “Hell, anybody can drive a truck” (2). Although Troy is not qualified to drive a garbage truck –– he does not have his driver’s license –– he still believes that he is qualified enough to partake in a White man’s job. Troy is completely aware that he cannot lawfully drive a vehicle; hence, he ponders possible qualifications for being capable of driving a vehicle. He determines that “you think only white fellow got sense enough to drive a truck” (2). Wilson use of the human-like quality of having “sense,” the fundamental perception of all external stimulus, depicts a baseline expectation of driving a garbage truck.

Halstead discusses that people of non-color face “color-blindness” where they are “able to ignore race”. This is the opposite of those of color because as said in the letter, “they live in a culture that constantly reminds them of their black-ness, which tells them in a million large and small ways that they are not as important as white people, that their lives do not matter as much as white people”. This shows the importance of saying Black Lives Matter because it is not necessarily that not all lives matter but the fact there are some lives that are overlooked and discriminated, causing racial inequality. It can be seen that “no one is questioning whether white lives matter or whether police lives matter but the question of whether Black lives matter is an open question in this country”. This just further shows that there IS racial inequality in America where people of non-color recieve luxury treatments and people of color do

This could be one of the reasons why they don’t want to get along with African American people. African American people shouldn’t be separated from others. They treat badly to people of African descent, because the white think there so much better. As Atticus sates “you know, t’s funny thing about Braxton, said Atticus, he despires Negroes, won’t have one near him” (156). This evidence proves that the character Braxton has been

Also, Troy believes that even if you are black and you do well in professionals that you will still no get very many chances to play in the game. For example, Cory argues with Troy that “They got some white guys on the team that don’t play every day”(Wilson 1852) but, Troy argues back saying “That’s why I don’t want you to get all tied up in them sports. Man on the team and what it get him? They got colored on the team and don’t use them.

As #OscarsSoWhite, #BlackLivesMatter, and police brutality circulate newspapers and social media, people mention- or rather shout- the evidence of white privilege again and again. In response, Macklemore released a sequel (White Privilege II) to his earlier White Privilege in which he uses powerful, inclusive phrases paired with a reverent tone, repetitive figurative language, and rhythmic sentence structure to expose and emphasize unconscious racial biases in society. He also questions how his position as a popular white rapper influences black culture appropriated by society. Towards the middle of the song, he becomes assertive in questioning the motives behind much of the white support of the movement through lyrics, "are you marching for

We are living in a world where the erasure and dehumanization of people of color is slowly becoming a normative. Voices silenced, struggles trivialized, deaths becoming statistics, brutality only brought up for shock factor, achievements hidden and it is all slowly becoming accepted. Through various rhetorical strategies Claudia Rankine illustrates the experience of being part of the marginalized identity in the United States and depicts how subtly and multifaceted the methods of oppression take place in the daily life are and the negative repercussions it holds on the individual. The ambiguity of her writing with the lack of punctuation and clarification of what is thought and what is aloud allows the readers to input their own interpretation of these various scenarios.