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649848 tn?1534633700

'I'm Not Racist' is the brutal race conversation nobody wants to have

By Doug Criss, CNN
(CNN)It opens with a white man in a "Make America Great Again" hat ticking off racist trope after racist trope:
How African Americans are lazy, aimless, shiftless. How there's a double standard when it comes to using the N-word.

The scene is from rapper Joyner Lucas' music video for "I'm Not Racist," and there's no doubt, it's uncomfortable viewing. Profanities prevail; misconceptions fly.

But get to the second verse, and the song takes a surprising turn -- when a young man in dreadlocks gets his chance to respond, to rebut the generalizations, to recount being stopped by the police and rebuffed for jobs.

There's a reason "I'm Not Racist" is racking up millions of views online. It's driving a conversation about the state of race relations in America. A really, really, really raw conversation, and just how far apart blacks and whites are in how they see things in this country right now.

"I wish we could trade shoes or we could change lives

So we could understand each other more, but that'd take time

I'm not racist, it's like we livin' in the same buildin', but splittin' the both sides

I'm not racist, but there's two sides to every story and now you know mine."

'Uncomfortable conversation'

You can view the video here, but be warned. It is peppered with racial stereotypes and cuss words.
Lucas is a 29-year-old rapper from Massachusetts, and he says the video really is the race talk that people shy away from.

"It's a very uncomfortable conversation to have," he told CNN.

He explained that what makes the video so shocking is that it's not a white supremacist or a neo-Nazi saying these words, but a regular Joe.

"It was an average white man speaking his mind on how he actually feels about black people," Lucas said, "and it was an average black guy talking about his interactions with white people. These are suppressed feelings that both parties have but are afraid to express."

Shocked at reaction

The video is a powerful concept powerfully executed.

The two men, both of them lip syncing to Lucas' words, sit across from each other at a table.

First, the white man unloads his frustrations and his views on Black Lives Matter, the NFL anthem protests. There are even potshots taken against 2Pac and Eminem.

Then the black man reacts. He takes on white privilege, cultural appropriation, and attacks against former President Barack Obama.
Throughout the song, both men insist "I'm not racist."

The video for the song was filmed last week in New Hampshire, and Lucas said while he knew it would do well, he was shocked so many people had watched it so quickly.

And he said most of the reaction to the controversial video has been positive.

"I'm very shocked at the amount of love that I'm seeing. I'm not seeing as much hatred," he said. "I'm actually seeing a lot of comments along the lines of ''wow, i never looked at things that way before. I can understand where the white man is coming from. I can understand where the black man is coming from.'"

Reactions like that is why Lucas does what he does.

"That's just my way of changing the world one day at a time," he said.
An understanding

The bleak video ends on a positive note. The two men hug it out as Lucas rhymes:

"I'm not racist, but there's two sides to every story and now you know mine

Can't erase the scars with a bandage

I'm hoping maybe we can come to an understanding

Agreed or disagreed, we could have an understanding."

And in this divided climate, that would be a start.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/29/entertainment/joyner-lucas-not-racist-video-trnd/index.html
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Avatar universal
On a semi related subject, I was recently turned on to a guy by the name of Michael Wood Jr.  He's an ex-marine, an ex-cop, libertarian guy who I find more liberal than I am but he has a pretty good thumb on the pulse of things.  By the way, he is an ex-cop out of the Baltimore police department and has seen the racism, lived the racism and has had a way to better explain the situation to me than anyone else has.  Look him up on youtube...  for some of the more conservative people out there, it may take a shaker of salt to get through some of what he is saying but if you open up, listen, I guarantee that you can walk away with something useful and meaningful.
Helpful - 0
649848 tn?1534633700
Here's an article I read this morning that I thought was quite interesting...

http://www.cnn.com/2017/12/15/us/charlottesville-klansman-black-man-meeting/index.html
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1 Comments
I saw that on TV and I was moved then as I am now. It takes a lot of courage to do what that blues-man does.
Avatar universal
Nice video.  It's nearly an impossible conversation to have.    It quickly evokes emotions.  There are so many misunderstandings.  
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6 Comments
Yes, there are many understandings.  The important thing is to get the conversation started and the hardest thing is to keep it going when truths are spoken that neither side wants to hear about themselves.  
I was just having this discussion with a close friend yesterday.  We talked for better than an hour on the subject.  Not sure we made any progress in the whole spectrum of things.  I did learn a lot about perspective though.
I just noticed that I said "understandings" above, when I meant "misunderstandings", but I guess you got the gist...

Although you might not have made a lot of progress in your conversation, you had it, which is more than many people do and if you learned something, that, too, is more than many people do.  An hour is a short time to have such a discussion, especially, if the parties are far apart or don't want to hear what the other has to say.

Too often, one side doesn't give the other credit for understanding as much as they do. In addition,  thoughts, assumptions or prejudices get attributed to one side or the other that aren't really there.  I learned some years ago.  It makes conversations very difficult.
I really don't believe dialogue is the answer. I'm not saying that it's counterproductive. I just don't believe dialogue alone will bring us much  closer. I think the answer is that the races should spend more time together - dining together, watching TV or movies together, visiting each other's homes and engaging in other activities together. I don't do enough of this and yet one of my best friends is black. We will go out for dinner etc but we don't really spend much time with our respective families and friends and I think if we did that more often we'd reach a deeper appreciation and understanding of our respective cultures, our differences and our prejudices.
I totally agree with you, Mike... I think we have to spend time in close proximity with other people in order to really get to know them.  

My daughter's roommate is black; she has a son not much older than my granddaughter, so the 4 of them do exactly as you say - dining, watching TV and engaging in a variety of activities together.  They have an awesome relationship.  The roommate and her son came with my daughter to spend Thanksgiving with us and we got a chance to get to know them a little bit, too.

I've had a lot of black friends over the years, people I worked with, etc.  We'd go to lunch and stuff, but didn't really do a lot outside of work.  I did that with my white friends, too, though - we'd all get busy and not have a lot of time, outside of work.    

If people enter a conversation with a preconceived idea and they aren't open to changing their minds, things can get out of hand in a hurry. In those cases, dialogue might be counterproductive.

I agree with you, Mike.  Dialogue only goes so far.  I do believe its a step in the right direction but it does lack the intimacy (if you will) to actually bridge the gap between us.
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