IMAGE COURTESY OF GREG NISSEN
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis picked up two prizes at the American Music Awards last night, for Favorite Artist and Favorite Album in the Rap/Hip-Hop categories. And while Stevie Wonder has pledged to stop performing in Florida and other Stand Your Ground states, the two men were in Florida yesterday, and decided to use the confluence of geography and a platform to make a different kind of statement about the same issue.
“Due to the fact that we are in Florida tonight accepting this award I want to acknowledge Trayvon Martin and the hundreds and hundreds of kids each year that are dying due to racial profiling and the violence that follows it,” Macklemore said in the duo’s video acceptance speech. “This is really happening. These are our friends, our neighbors, our peers and our fans, and it’s time that we look out for the youth and fight against racism and the laws that protect it.”
The statement was both a good use of the televised broadcast, and a reminder of one of the issues that’s dogged Macklemore during his rise.
Peep the Lyrics:
ARTist: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis f/Evan Roman
Track: A Wake (The Heist)
Now every month there is a new Rodney on Youtube
It’s just something our generation is used to
And neighborhoods where you never see a news crew
Unless they’re gentrifying, white people don’t even cruise through
And my subconscious telling me stop it
This is an issue that you shouldn’t get involved in
Don’t even tweet “R.I.P Trayvon Martin”
Don’t wanna be that white dude, million-man marching
Fighting for a freedom that my people stole
Don’t wanna make all my white fans uncomfortable
“But you don’t even have a fuckin’ song for radio
Why you out here talking race, trying to save the fucking globe?”
Don’t get involved if the cause isn’t mine
White privilege, white guilt, at the same damn time
So we just party like it’s 1999
Celebrate the ignorance while these kids keep dying
It’s just something our generation is used to
And neighborhoods where you never see a news crew
Unless they’re gentrifying, white people don’t even cruise through
And my subconscious telling me stop it
This is an issue that you shouldn’t get involved in
Don’t even tweet “R.I.P Trayvon Martin”
Don’t wanna be that white dude, million-man marching
Fighting for a freedom that my people stole
Don’t wanna make all my white fans uncomfortable
“But you don’t even have a fuckin’ song for radio
Why you out here talking race, trying to save the fucking globe?”
Don’t get involved if the cause isn’t mine
White privilege, white guilt, at the same damn time
So we just party like it’s 1999
Celebrate the ignorance while these kids keep dying
Full ARTicle Here
