I'm Not Racist Video by Joyner Lucas

Twenty-nine year-oldrapper, Joyner Lucas, recently released a music video to a new song of his that stormed virally through all forms of social media. The name of the song/music video is "I'm Not Racist". The "I'm Not Racist" video sends a very strong message on all forms ofracism that are seen in America. Joyner Lucas states that every song he has created has started off with some form of visual such as a music video. Lucas stated that creating the visual before actually creating the song itself has helped him be able to display what he is trying to depict in his songs while at the same time creating a greater message. In this video, Joyner Lucas, raps lyrics from the perspectives of a racist white man as well as a young, black man. He has what would stereotypically look like a racist white man and a young black man lip sync the lyrics from the persona of a racist white man who believes blacks are no good and the persona of a young black man who is trying to show why his people deserve the same level of equality. Joyner Lucasstates that he did not want to hold audition for people to cast the scene and try to tell them what to do, because it would not be authentic or come from the heart. Lucas states that both men in the video are close friends of his. He says he would much rather let those who are close to him be in his videos do to the fact that they know what to expect of him, and he knows that their work will be authentic and come from the heart. First, I will start off with the perspective of the racist white man. The man states that Blacks need to get their priorities straight rather than sitting down, being lazy, and selling drugs. He states that Blacks don’t have enough jobs to fund the people in their house, and that one way to fix this would be to build a wall and keepall of the Mexicans out. By saying this, he was referencing Donald Trump's wanting to build a wall. This really caught my attention due to the fact that he was categorizing all blacks to be, in a sense, worthless, and not able to succeed unless under the help of whites. He ends his verse by speaking to the black man saying that there are two sides to every story and he wishes that he knew his. This is when we see the start of the black man's perspective on racism. He states that as Whites were protesting "All Lives Matter" it was a protest to the "Black Lives Matter" protest. He felt that the "All Lives Matter" protest was mainly started up to take power away or water down the "Black Lives Matter" protest. He talks about the importance of white people not being able to use the "N" words. He states that Whites tried to use the word to put Blacks under, but that they have to accept Blacks using it because it is how we greet each other. He states that whatever happened in the
past is still very relevant in today's. He shows this importance in this very powerful line: "And even if I wasn't picking cotton physically, that don't mean I'm not affected by the history. The video closes out with a hug between the black man and the white man which symbolizes the white man now understanding the struggle Blacks have to go through on an everyday basis and forming a bond with the black man.


Word Count: 604
Rod Thornton