RAPTIVISM

The other day, I overheard some new visitors to South Africa talking about how difficult it was for them to learn about the history of apartheid after spending the day in the black township of Gugulethu. “It’s sad to think that our ancestors played such a big role in all of this [oppression]” one said. “Yeah, but we have to realize its not our fault” another said, “we can’t control what our ancestors did, ya know?”  The way rest of their conversation unfolded, it was as if to say, “yeah, well, the past is the past, so we might as well get over it and move on.”

The rhetoric of these types of conversations about white guilt and what Peggy Mcintosh calls the “invisible knapsack of privilege” sounds all to similar to what I’ve heard among friends and colleagues in the US when talking about our history of colonization, racist/sexist oppression, segregation and slavery.

In that moment, I thought to myself: if I could put on my DJ cap right now and pull a song to speak to this conversation it’d be Swedish rapper Promoe’s “White Man’s Burden” (a song I heard about from Danish rapper and student of political science, Vakili).

Now hold on just there—I know what you might be thinking if you don’t know anything about Promoe: ‘White Man’s Burden’?? What kind of song is that?! But don’t be so quick to judge a book by it’s cover, a song by it’s title, or an artist by his dreads just yet—just check it out and, if you feel so inclined, share it with a friend.

For now, I’m just posting it in hopes that it can throw out some interesting food for thought for all you raptivists out there about our living history/histories!

You can also check out the lyrics here (they’re not quite on point, but it’s the closest version I could find).

Thanks & Peace,

Aisha