I’m feeling the need to talk a bit about Kendrick Lamar’s Super bowl Half-Time Show, mostly because I feel that people seriously didn’t grok (understand) the powerful message behind it. Whether that’s because America’s average intelligence level and IQ is in the toilet these days or because too much of America is drowning in racism…honestly, probably both.

A bit of fact: Football players are predominately black. Football is a brutal, gladiator-like sport where the players often end up permanently injured. Not just broken limbs or torn ligaments but concussion after concussion, which often leaves their brains addled. These black bodies are often permanently damaged for your amusement.

Let that sink in.

To expect entertainment without respecting the culture or the expectations placed on black athletes is often rooted in racism.

Yes, I know white athletes have expectations and injuries too, but if you’re honest with yourself, you know that black people are held to a much higher standard than white people. White athletes can act the fool with little more than a slap on the wrist. Statistically speaking, white people get away with more. But when black athletes do something as simple as taking a knee, to protest the racism that runs through this country and this country’s roots, they are kicked to the curb.

SIDE NOTE: We teach kids that protesting is a constitutional right. We teach them that MLK Jr. was a pacifist and used peaceful means of protest (though that’s not exactly accurate), so why is it wrong when black people peacefully protest? Why is it only acceptable for white folks to exercise their constitutional rights?

Go read the lyrics to Kendrick Lamar’s songs. I mean…

Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young / You better not ever go to cell block one / To any bitch that talk to him and they in love / Just make sure you hide your lil’ sister from him …. Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles …. Why you trollin’ like a bitch? Ain’t you tired? Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor”

The double-meaning with the term “A minor.” O_O
Or another snippet from Not Like Us:

Once upon a time, all of us was in chains / Homie still doubled down callin’ us some slaves / Atlanta was the Mecca, buildin’ railroads and trains … The settlers was usin’ townfolk to make ’em richer / Fast-forward, 2024, you got the same agenda / You run to Atlanta when you need a check balance… You run to Atlanta when you need a few dollars / No, you not a colleague, you a fuckin’ colonizer”

He uses rap as a means of social commentary (which honestly, has always been what rap is about, much like speculative fiction). For example, in Euphoria, when he says: “I hate when a rapper talk about guns, then somebody die, they turn into nuns” or in Hood Politics when he criticizes politics: “From Compton to Congress. Set-trippin’ all around. Ain’t nothin’ new but a flu of new Demo-Crips and Re-Blood-icans. Red state versus a blue state – which one you governin’?”

There’s a reason he’s won a Pulitzer Prize and oodles of Grammies and other awards. Go think on the lyrics’ depth and the realities of living and breathing while black. 

This country was built on the backs of black people. There’s a reason the dancers who formed the US flag had their backs turned up. Hint: it wasn’t just about making the flag’s colors.

Every visual and dance and beat was a decision. A message.

For example, when Serena Williams won the Olympic gold in 2012, she celebrated with a Crip Walk dance. She was criticized and verbally beaten for it. They threatened to take away her medal. For her to chose to do that dance again in the show, a dance with deep meaning in Black culture, was a message.

The puppet strings—the message of white people dictating what Black people can and can’t do; From having a Black Uncle Sam(uel L. Jackson); The idea of everything being a game with the show taking place on a Playstation; The idea that for Black people, it’s the school to prison pipeline, as dictated by white people and white expectations; The fact that so many people give money to Drake, someone who been seen kissing underaged girls, and how that sits with the community; And so much more…

Every choice made in that performance was intentional and used to educate and protest.

I had someone come at me online because he claimed the show was too “dividing” and that it didn’t “unite” our broken country, but I call bullshit on that.

Uniting two sides is what you do when the disagreement is over how much money to spend on yarn. I have no intention of uniting with facists. I have no intention of uniting with Nazis. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:

You can’t “agree to disagree” over HUMAN RIGHTS.

Many of our elected officials want people like myself and my wife to cease existing. They would rather put is in camps (though they’ll call it conversion therapy). They would rather “deport” everyone who isn’t white. They have stated this as their intention time and time again. They have made it no secret that they are coming for transgender folks, but they have also made it no secret that they’re coming for the BIPOC community too.

Black people have warned us (white people) for ages about the dangers of hate and what happens when you allow othering and hate to be the rule of the land.

To have someone as talented and smart as Kendrick Lamar, someone who spent a lot of time creating a work of art with such an important message, as a Half-Time Show performer was also a choice. He used his voice for a reason.

I’m just sad that too many Americans lack the intelligence to see and hear and learn.

Too many want to return to the “good ol’ days,” where POC “knew their place.” Where women “knew their place,” and transgender folks lived in hiding, for fear of being beaten to death. (SIDE NOTE: Many of us still do, especially black transgender folks.) They want a return to slavery and the idea that white straight men are the rulers and leaders of this land, and only white straight men.

This is why racists fight so hard to remove DEI. 

Rap may not be your thing, it may not be the genre you enjoy, but musical tastes aside, you should be able to appreciate the artistry and the message that went into the Half-Time Show.

If you still wanna say it was shit, give some serious thought as to why.

P.S. Despite our government’s attempts to remove it, it’s also Black History Month. To be honest, every month is Black History Month, which was also the point of the show, so give that some thought too. 

BLACK HISTORY IS AMERICAN HISTORY.

(I can’t embed the video due to copyright laws, but you can watch Kendrick Lamar’s performance here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDorKy-13ak)