To Pimp a Movement
The adopted voice of the Black Lives Matter movement, Kendrick Lamar, has always done what many wish they could: transfer meaning through words and tell a tale specific to themselves and their people. We’ve stared at his Grammy-winning, black-and-white album cover To Pimp a Butterfly for five years. As is often the case with transcendent works, its beauty and predictive genius grows more and more evident each day. Over the last three days (since I committed to this stream-of-consciousness-turned-“paper,”) the world watched as protestors set ablaze that same White House lawn that Denis Rouvre so vividly captured in that album artwork half a decade ago. An unfettered display of Blackness and bravado brashly shot atop an X’d out lawyer in front of the holy and white sepulchral mecca of white supremacy. On June 1 we watched as peaceful protesters stood in unity, only to be met by tear gas kisses sanctioned by the world’s leading white supremacist in front of that same tacky, columned, house of sin. One can only hope that tear gas today, extrajudicial murder the day before, and a collective 400 years of systemically placing a well-polished dress boot heel to the temple of a people, could incite enough anger to attempt to recreate Rouvre’s magical image in real time.
But how do we get to a place where white supremacy is met with the fervour it deserves? How do we get to a place where we don’t feel a sense of relief…