Déjà vu is a feeling of familiarity, the feeling of having “already lived through” something, a feeling of recollection, I felt those sentiments as I traced back the trails of thought and feelings that I experienced when we had a session with the students from Michigan State University in Stellenbosch about the lived experiences of African Americans, juxtaposed with the lived experiences of black individuals in South Africa, in an attempt to contextualize and draw parallels about the issues that we face as the black community.
For me this was a very fulfilling experience because the content that I consumer, whether it be entertainment or politics is largely influenced by thought leaders and entertainers in the United States, and it was intriguing to hear the point of views of individuals in the states, especially with the current political climate. The participant from Michigan state university we all black, for me this served as a perfect platform to ask the pertinent questions: “Like how do black artists influence and represent you in the political space” and what is their role”, I also posed the question “what effect does black twitter serve as a platform for people of colour in America”.
The responses to those questions were eye opening and profound, as lover of hip hop, it made me appreciate the music and artistry even more, it illuminated its origins in our conversation, as Tiffany the Facilitator from Michigan State made reference to Kendrick Lamar’s album “To Pimp a Butterfly” which was largely influenced by South African history, she said that music for them was an escape, it was their way of communicating and learning about each other, it was a needle that connected and united everybody, she emphasized that artist were duty bound to speak about the experiences that they face, that they were their mouth piece to the world, it speaking truth to power, she also added that through music especially conscious rap, it allowed them to learn about the African history, she mentioned the references made by Kendrick Lamar about the Zulu and Xhosa tribal war in the song “we gon’be Alright”.
I found myself reflecting on her words as I thought about Nina Simone, one of thee most iconic musicians of our time, when she said: “the duty of any artists is to reflect in their music the times that they live in” and this was quite evident that artist who embodied that message in their music touched more lives and subsequently were more successful, this also served as affirmation that Hip hop although its viewed as a misogynistic genre, which is a valid point, can impact and contribute positively.
But the meat and potatoes of the conversation was black twitter, I was eagerly interested in this topic because I’m an avid support of this platform. Black Twitter is a cultural identity, on the Twitter social network focused on issues of interest to the black community, particularly in the United States, it has largely served a great platform in facilitating constructive discussions that are prevalent in the 21st century, it is an iconic and positive safe space for people of colour to serve and disseminate knowledge that we wouldn’t otherwise get from main stream media.
Both the SAWIP cohort and the group from Michigan state we salivating in sharing their juicey experiences and thoughts about his subject, the group from Michigan were in consensus that black twitter was very instrumental in exposing police brutality and racism in America, it debunked the narrative of a post racial society in America, it served as a rallying tool for social change and cohesion across America, especially in movement like Black Lives matter, it reignited the spirit of activism and active citizenry in America, and they most disturbing thing about our conversation is that I could totally relate to their struggles, I could empathize, and admit I went through some of the experiences that they had described, in essence it was nostalgic, deja vu in a sense, I could draw parallels between American police brutality and that of South Africa during the Fees Must Fall protest, I could draw comparisons to the racial biases that they experience in America, to that of the racial discrimination that is still prevalent in South Africa. Black people irrespective of where they were born, they were still being victimized because of the colour of their skin. As I was listening to them speak, when we were reciprocating ideas and lived experiences I could recall the lyrics of my favourite artist.
Joey Badass in his song Land of the Free,
He said: “We can’t change the world ‘less we change ourselves
We’ll die from the sicknesses if we don’t seek the health
All eyes be my witness when I speak what’s felt.
For these lyrics emphasized self-care and cemented the fact that intergenerational trauma is something that is real, and we still have a long way to, although we might be born in different continents and in different countries, we are one of the same thing, go listen to the song you’ll definitely know what im talking about.
Kind Regards
Black Sauce
