Black vs. White

Tupac Amaru Shakur also known as 2Pac and Makavelli is a notorious criminal/ famous artist/ son/ friend/ rival/ legend and role model. Shakur was born in the City of New York in 1971 and died in 1995. During his career as a solo artist, he drew upon the ideas of hardship, racism and personal experiences of his life as an African born American. Captivatingly, both his mother and father were apart of the ‘Black Panther Party’ (Black revolutionary socialists).

Shakur was most famous for rapping, an art form involving hip-hop, reggae with a mash up of poetic speech. One song in particular, which I love, is ‘Changes’.

‘Changes’ is a personal account of the hardship and reality Shakur experiences in the struggle of being an American with an African descent. Shakur draws upon the ideas of adversity being an under privileged African American and the racism that exists within the American culture. Not only him, but also many other citizens of the same race have experienced the stories he presents. The inequality and lack of fairness due to ‘White dominated’ homogenous culture, or as Leornardo, Z. (2003) refers to as ‘White racial hegemony’[1], has placed the African Americans in an unstable position of power. This has led to the inequity as the nation was torn into two distinct races as Shakur states ‘Learn to see me as a brother ‘stead of two distant strangers’. The society has brought forth negative connotations around ‘being black’; this has led to the disruption of stereotypes and inequality. Instead of fighting back, Shakur accepts the fact that ‘Things’ll never be the same’. The society has been built upon stereotypes. He believes you cannot revert that ‘That’s just the way it is’. Correspondingly, (McIntosh, 1992: 1) defines the “white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets” supporting the idea of being white comes with benefits[2]. The notion of the white privileged evokes Shakur’s idea of the under privileged dark skinned male living in a society based upon white racial hegemony.

The division of races has become inevitable in the past and subtly exists today.

‘All I see is racist faces.

Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races we under’

Strongly supports Shakur’s belief of America being a racist nation. The inequality between blacks and whites is a clear example of the racism that exists.

In the first stanza, Shakur states,

‘I’m tired of being poor and even worse I’m black

My stomach hurts, so I’m lookin’ for a purse to snatch’.

This is a direct stereotype of the African American race being ‘poor’ and underprivileged. The diction of ‘even worse’ in ‘even worse I’m black’ emphasizes that being ‘black’ is a disadvantage in society. He illustrates he is so poor he cannot afford the basic necessities in life, including food. Therefore, Shakur displays the reality of being an African descent and the difficulties he experiences.

Therefore, ‘Changes’ stimulates a powerful message and educates the society with what it really is like to be living in a racist, unequal society. The hardship and exposure to the realities have manipulated emotions of sympathy for me as a reader. I do not believe colour should divide mankind and I strongly do not believe that any race should be discriminated upon. The stereotypes have not deteriorated and are inevitable, where it be subtly or not. Racism and inequality in our society is irreversible.

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[1] Leonardo, Z. (2004). The color of supremacy: Beyond the discourse of ‘white privilege’, Educational Philosophy and Theory, 36(2), 137-152.

[2] McIntosh, P. (1992) White Privilege and Male Privilege: A personal account of coming to see correspondences through work in women’s studies, In M. Andersen & P. H. Collins (eds), Race, Class, and Gender: An anthology. Belmont, CA, Wadsworth Publishing.

Reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay9BWM8lwOA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panther_Party