Let’s Get In Formation and Stop Police Brutality..Alright!
Kendrick Lamar is a famous African American musician in today’s society. He has famous songs such as Humble, Love, Poetic Justice and many more. A song and music video that really stood out to me is “Alright”. “Alright” is a famous single from the album To Pimp a Butterfly released in June 30, 2015. In my blog, I am going to compare “Alright” with connections to Lemonade and a text from class.
“Alright” was filmed in black and white (like some music videos from Lemonade) that starts with a graphic scene of a police officer shooting a young black man. Overall, focuses on police brutality and Black Lives Matter Movement. Black Lives Matter (BLM) is an international activist movement, originating in the African-American community, that campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards black people. BLM regularly holds protests speaking out against police killings of black people, and broader issues such as racial profiling, police brutality, and racial inequality in the United States criminal justice system. In 2013, the movement began with the use of the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter on social media after George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin, a black teenager.
Police brutality has been a common issue for black people, mainly black males. Some examples are Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, and many more. In Lemonade, the song “Freedom” features Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, and Eric Garner mothers holding a picture of their son who was killed by a policeman.
In addition, in her “Formation” music video, there is a spray paint of graffiti saying “ Stop shooting us”, us referring to black people. Also, Beyoncé is sitting on top of a police car. In “Alright”, three children are standing on top a police car as well. This symbolizes the society is more powerful than the police and police brutality will come to an end.
Both videos connect to Lorde’s Transformation of Silence into Language and Action & Moving Beyond Pain. Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar used their platforms to speak against trauma that black people had to go through. Black people voices are not powerful and most of their stories go unnoticed. Therefore, it is hard to speak when you are not being heard. In addition, speaking out is a hard thing to do especially when you are famous. As a famous person, you have to watch what you say because millions of people are watching. In addition, famous people have fans and haters, so voicing their opinions has a strong influence. “Alright” also connects to the text Where Do We Go From Here by Isabel Wilkerson. In the text Wilkerson stated, Police assaults on black people for ordinary behavior. In“Alright”, Lamar makes police brutality a norm in our society, however, if we have God the society will be fine. What stood out to me is when Wilkerson stated on page 59, “We seem to be in a continuing feedback loop of repeating a past that our country has to be addressed.” This is not the first I have heard the statement “History repeats itself.” Also, I have noticed only black people feels this way because of our past. Wilkerson also states, “The past few have forced us to confront our place in a country where we were enslaved for far longer than we have free.” Police assaulting black people for ordinary behavior was an issue that has became relevant which is a form of history repeating itself. By Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar speaking out, I hope their music and visuals will influence their fans to make a positive change on our society to stop police brutality.
