Social Studies: Redemption Songs

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Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war.

Until there no longer first class and second class citizens of any nation. Until the color of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes, me say war.

Until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race...

Dis a war

—Bob Marley, 1976

The past few days have proven to be a turbulent time for white people across America. As for the black people who continually experience chaos, lawlessness and violence at the hands of people invading their communities, this is called “life”.

If you doubt the veracity of that statement, let’s kick off Black Music Month by examining what some of our most heralded social scientists have previously said about this all-American phenomenon of racial injustice:

Fuck the police comin’ straight from the underground
A young nigga got it bad ‘cause I’m brown
And not the other color so police think
They have the authority to kill a minority
Fuck that shit, ‘cause I ain’t the one
For a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun
To be beatin’ on, and thrown in jail
We can go toe to toe in the middle of a cell

— N.W.A., 1988

Do you know how cocksure and brazenly evil one must be to commit acts of police brutality at the protest against police brutality?

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Maybe this N.W.A. was talking about:

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Can’t you see it
Can’t you feel it
It’s all in the air
I can’t stand the pressure much longer
Somebody say a prayer

Alabama’s gotten me so upset
Tennessee made me lose my rest
And everybody knows about Mississippi goddam

— Nina Simone, 1964

Maybe Nina was inspired by motherfuckers like the mayor of Petal, Miss.

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To be fair, Marx is a big Trump supporter, who once said this:

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And, despite what you may think about the belligerent negro rioters destroying property, protesters on social media are showing who is partly responsible for the chaos:

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And it’s not just the white supremacist protesters:

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But, as someone once said: