Controlling the Narrative

Inspired from the 1994 Hip Hop song “You Can’t Stop The Prophet” by Jeru the Damaja. I created three videos to show the dual struggle of being black and of being black in America. I manifest this struggle by creating three beings reminiscing to the first verse of “Mr Ignorant”: ''he has an army, they always give me trouble / Mainly - Hatred, Jealousy and Envy they attack me.” I bring forth these three into beings; the ignorant black that serves as the degenerate notion of the black man, the entertainment black that only cares about fame and self-aggrandizement, or the assimilation black man who believes race is no longer an issue. I am tackling black masculinity as a lens for understanding how black masculinity has been shaped through the lens of white society and the legacy of racism. Black masculinity is defined not literally by physicality but by an expectation of exotic degeneracy and so it need not physically be present for the threats to emerge. Each video I have the back-and-forth argument with myself to show how the continual effects from slavery have shaped the view of black masculinity.

What does it mean to be pro-black? What does it mean to be a conservative black? Are you a coon or sellout for supporting Donald Trump? Are you an SJW for pushing the pro-black narrative?

In America, there is no “post-racial” society. as black Americans we have and will continue to push back against the voices of the media that declares the false notion of a “post-racial” America. We serve as a reminder that while the progress we have made in this country has been good, but that does not equal “post-racial.”