Notes And Quotes
Notes and Quotes
Text: T.I - Warzone (Music video 2016) - From album “Us Or Else: Letter To The System”.
Media issue/debate: Police brutality.
Critical investigation question: To what extent do political hip hop music videos such as T.I - Warzone initiate the media debate of police brutality and has this helped to transform the social issue?
The music video has actual events of victims due to police brutality - Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile.
Music video’s in hip hop, especially political hip hop normally contain some sort of issue that has risen in society. The main issue that has been examined in most is racism, racial inequality, racial profiling and police brutality.
Other media texts related (Music Video, Film, Podcast) :
- Kendrick Lamar - Alright
This is a song that is associated with Black Lives Matter and civil rights. Consumers are now starting to name it “the unifying soundtrack” and the “black lives matter anthem”.
Lyrics:
Chorus: “We gon’ be alright” - sends a message of hope and is associated with Black Lives Matter and the fight against police brutality.
“But homicide be looking at you from face down” - referring to police brutality.
“N****, and we hate po-po/ Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho’ - Hatred towards the police because of their unlawfulness.
“Wouldn’t you know/ We been hurt down before/N****, when our pride was low/Lookin’ at the world like, “Where do we go?”” - Introduces the idiom to introduce the material, emotional and psychological consequences of being black in America.
- Beyonce - Lemonade album
This album contains songs that are an expression of pride in the achievements of black women and showcases the complex and intimate selves.
Song: Freedom ft Kendrick Lamar - anthem dedicated to black women.
Lyrics:
“I’ma walk, I’ma march on the regular/Painting white flags blue” - march for freedom inspiring change from acitivism.
Chorus: “Freedom!Freedom! I can’t move/ Freedom cut me loose!/ Freedom! Freedom! Where are you?/ Cause I need freedom too!/ I break chains all by myself/ Won’t let my freedom rot in hell.” - about liberation but in particular liberation of black women who are at the forefront for civil rights but their needs are pushed to the side in favour of needs of black men. To do with blacklivesmatter movement.
Kendrick Lamar verse: “Seven misleadin’ statements ‘bout my persona/Siz headlights wavin’i in my direction” - refers to six lights on a police car and the anti-police sentiment within the black community.
“Yeah, I keep runnin’, jump in the aqueducts/Fire hydrants and hazardous/Smoke alarms on the back of us” - Gives a visceral and physical representation of the depreciate stress many African-Americans feel when confronted by the police.
“Stole from me, lied to me, nation hypocrisy” - Ancestors were stolen from by America and then lied to the descendants with promise of equal access to the American dream.
Song: Formation - is a Black power anthem fitting contribution to Black History Month and an important conversation piece in the Black Lives Matter movement.
TV documentaries:
- Crisis Of Distrust: Police And Community In Toronto
This documentary explores the issue of 'carding' in Toronto and distrust between police and community.
- No Justice, No Peace
A Black Lives Matter leader disrupts Donald Trumps secret meeting with 12 leaders of the Black community in Philadelphia.
- These Streets Are Watching
These Streets are Watching is a 50-minute video on police accountability in three communities in the United States; Denver, Cincinnati and Berkeley. The video documents incidents that its creators consider demonstrate the unnecessary use of force by the police.
- The Central Park FIve
Academic texts/books:
• Paul Gilroy - There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack / 1987
This book discusses anti-black racism in the United Kingdom. This work of Gilroy's remains quite controversial to many for his views on racial politics in the United Kingdom and for his views on race and ethnicity.
• Bell Hooks - Feminism is for EVERYBODY - Passionate Politics / 2000
Bell Hooks looks at a wide variety of topics including reproductive rights, sexual violence, race, class and work. Hooks encourages us to demand alternatives to patriarchal, racist and homophobic culture and thereby to seek out a different future.
• Stuart Hall - Representation - Second Edition / 2013
This book will once again prove an indispensible resource for students and teachers in cultural and media studies.
• Paul Butler - Chokehold: Policing Black MenChokehold: Policing Black Men / 2017
Cops, politicians, and ordinary people are afraid of black men. The result is the Chokehold: laws and practices that treat every African American man like a thug. In this explosive new book, an African American former federal prosecutor shows that the system is working exactly the way it’s supposed to. Black men are always under watch, and police violence is widespread—all with the support of judges and politicians.
• Bell Hooks - Black Looks: Race and Representation / 1992
In these twelve essays, bell hooks digs ever deeper into the personal and political consequences of contemporary representations of race and ethnicity within a white supremacist culture.
Internet Links:
• http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/king-losing-battle-police-brutality-america-article-1.3266056 - Shaun King talks about police brutality in America.
“We must be honest about our status in the fight against police brutality in America. We are losing.”
“2017 is on pace to be the deadliest year ever measured for the number of people killed by police in our country”
“The most egregious officers, in the most heinous cases of police violence, with the most overwhelming evidence, are still beating the charges against them.”
“If more people are being killed by police this year than any other year and the most rotten apples among America's police still aren't being held accountable, then we are losing.”
“We are losing. We are being outspent, out-organized, and out-maneuvered by an unjust system that is so deeply entrenched and so well fortified with the principles of white supremacy, racism and classism that in spite of all of our collective efforts, injustice marches on.”
• https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/16/philando-castile-shooting-manslaughter-police-jeronimo-yanez - An article about Philando Castile's shooting.
"Castile’s death was among a number of police killings of black Americans that spurred protests and led to calls for police reforms across the country.”
“The video, which did not capture the shooting itself, quickly went viral amid a contentious nationwide conversation about police use of deadly force.”
“Yanez suspected Castile of being involved in a nearby robbery involving two black men.”
“Yanez continued: “The driver looks more like one of our suspects just because of the wide-set nose.””
“Castile “immediately complied” when Yanez initiated the traffic stop, pulling over his car just eight seconds after Yanez turned on his lights, according to Choi.”
“The final moments of Castile’s life: “Calmly and in a non-threatening manner…””
“Yanez interrupted as Castile tried to respond, saying “don’t pull it out” multiple times in a brief exchange before shooting Castile seven times, about one minute after the traffic stop began, Choi said.
Castile muttered his final words – “I wasn’t reaching for it” – as Yanez continued to scream at him: “Don’t pull it out!””
““Based upon the evidence we believe that Castile never removed nor tried to remove his handgun from his front, right pocket…””
• https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/25/nyregion/justice-dept-replaces-investigators-on-eric-garner-case.html - Article about Eric Garner's death.
“Mr. Garner’s last words, “I can’t breathe,” became a rallying cry for protesters around the country.”
“Federal authorities have been investigating whether officers violated Mr. Garner’s civil rights in his fatal encounter with the police. But the case had been slowed by a dispute because federal prosecutors and Federal Bureau of Investigation officials in New York opposed bringing charges, while prosecutors with the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department in Washington argued there was clear evidence to do so.”
“Mr. Garner’s death, followed by the fatal police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and several other high-profile deadly police encounters across the country, prompted nationwide protests over how and when officers use force, particularly against black men. “
“Officer Pantaleo was stripped of his badge and gun two days after Mr. Garner’s death, and he has remained on desk duty.”
• http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/index.ssf/2017/01/tamir_rice_shooting_a_breakdow.html - This article is a breakdown of what happened to Tamir Rice.
“Regardless of the disciplinary charges, the events that led up to the 12-year-old's shooting on Nov. 22, 2014 have been picked apart endlessly by the public, lawyers and investigators.”
“Former Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty called the shooting "a perfect storm of human error" at a December 2015 news conference.”
“The man (who reported) was calm and told dispatcher Constance Hollinger that the person pointing the gun was "probably a juvenile" and that the gun is "probably fake.”"
“The problem was that dispatchers didn't tell Loehmann and Garmback that Tamir might be a child and that the gun might be fake.”
“ After Loehmann shot Tamir, neither he nor Garmback rendered first aid to the boy, who laid on the snow-covered grass. Four minutes later, an FBI agent, out with another Cleveland police officer investigating a robbery, showed up at Cudell and gave the boy medical attention until an ambulance arrived.”
• http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/racial-profiling-british-people-muslims-arabs-support-security-anti-terrorism-attacks-survey-caabu-a7966666.html - This article is about racial profiling in Britain.
“More than half of British people would support the racial profiling of Muslims and Arabs for security reasons”
“…poll showed stark differences between the views held by Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat supporters, and those on opposing sides of the Brexit debate.”
“Almost 80 per cent of Leave voters, for example, believed the Arabs who migrated to the UK “have failed to integrate in Western societies and live in isolated communities”, but only 45 per cent of Remain voters felt the same, bringing the average down to 63 per cent.”
“Overall, only 28 per cent thought migrants and refugees from the Arab world were beneficial to Britain.”
“Chris Doyle, the director of Caabu, said racial profiling would not be the “right cure” for the continued terror threat against the UK following four Isis-linked terror attacks this year. “
University websites/academic papers online:
• https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=VKqgBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA149&dq=police+brutality&ots=6ANnLwNoiX&sig=UoJAtm0BkTJ9U_8dA3X6Ai3vWh8#v=onepage&q=police%20brutality&f=false - Criminal Justice Theory: Explaining the Nature and Behavior of Criminal Justice.
“One prominent sociological approach to understanding the behaviour of police officers is based on the premise that police behaviour is influenced by the social dynamics of police-citizen encounters.” - page 150 - THEORIES OF POLICE BRUTALITY.
“ Donald Black’s sociological theory of law holds that the “quantity of law” is influenced by social attributes of concerned parties — victims and suspects, or plaintiffs and defendants, as well as the agents of social control themselves.” - page 150 - THEORIES OF POLICE BRUTALITY.
“According to this theory, police officers are least likely to take legal or other coercive action against lower-status persons — especially the poor, and racial and ethnic minorities — whose accusers are also of low status, but more likely to take such action against lower-status persons whose accusers are of higher status.” - page 150 - THEORIES OF POLICE BRUTALITY.
• https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=m_v_TE13t9cC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=police+brutality&ots=81ZkUfrFDk&sig=-uH-IDsODxHVPSWCLq-4ArCnDOo#v=onepage&q=police%20brutality&f=false - The Politics of Force: Media and the Construction of Police Brutality.
• https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/bitstream/handle/1808/4081/59-76.pdf - Social Psychology of Prejudice: Historical and Contemporary Issues
• http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0042085906291929?journalCode=uexa - K Ullucci - Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States
Other relevant sites/articles:
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