Good Friday

Today is Good Friday.

It is a day Christians traditionally commemorate the crucifixion of Christ.  A most violent way to kill someone, it is brutal and the root of the word “excruciating”.  I am releasing a new single from an album today, and that single is about the history of lynching in America.  It was a cosmic coincidence that I released the single today, I didn’t realize the connection to Good Friday with the song until I saw that April 3^rd was actually Good Friday earlier this week.

So I want to talk about lynching today, because I draw a direct connection to lynching and crucifixion.  I have a voice, I am going to use it.  This is a really heavy song, I am not going to lie.

I originally wrote it and thought it was too heavy to release.  After a few deep conversations with close friends I respect, we decided it was a good idea to record and release the song, especially coming from me, a White artist.  It deals with a morbid topic, but in a time when our collective history is being constantly whitewashed, it is important that White people specifically speak out against the injustices that are part of our history.

I saw a shirt the other day that said, “SLAVERY IS WHITE HISTORY, SURVIVING IT IS BLACK HISTORY” and I couldn’t agree more.  I have a tattoo of Billie Holiday on my arm, and her song STRANGE FRUIT kicked off the civil rights movement, 15 years before Sam Cooke sang about change coming.  She was subsequently targeted, harassed, and killed for speaking the truth, her truth.

I know as a White artist in hip-hop culture, I need to show up and support these truths, and when my time comes to speak up, I want to be remembered for songs like this.  I enlisted my friend Ardamus to do a second verse.  We had talked about collaborating, and I felt it was a dark and bold topic to do our first collaboration, but he rose to the occasion.

I also sampled an artist I admire for the chorus.  The fact that Black people still live under the very real threat of lynching to this day is an injustice that needs to be abolished, and the hypocrisy of the projection of worshipping a man who was violently crucified while actively engaging in the practice of lynching is not lost on me.

Instead of walking away, whitewashing, or denial, White people need to be active in conversations about lynching and the history of it in this country.  Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

DRAWING OF BRYAN STEVENSON BY THE AUTHOR

My father wrote a book about Bryan Stevenson.  He is someone I admire, and when I gave a speech at a mental hospital in Alabama several years ago, I visited the memorial for Peace and Justice that he had an integral hand in developing.    It was riveting and profound.  I remember it being an extremely hot day in the end of September, and the heat was very oppressive.  It made me think of the conditions that enslaved people endured during the peak of summer.

At the memorial, there were markers for people who had been lynched, and it was a very powerful, emotional experience walking through this space.  I recommend anyone in the area give it a visit and ponder the space, sit with your thoughts and emotions when facing the enormity and scope of the racial lynching epidemic in this country.  It will make you uncomfortable, and feeling intense emotions, but that is a part of confronting racial terrorism and eventually healing from our collective wounds.

Have a good Friday on this Good Friday, as we celebrate a man who was crucified, an act that is similar to lynching, for speaking his truth.  Don’t forget about the victims of American racial terrorism this Good Friday, as you are pondering the crucifixion, ponder their violent deaths as well.