Jack & Jill Politics

At the MTV VMA Awards, popular Black Eyed Peas lead singer Will.i.am wore a cutting-edge, all black outfit with white-rimmed sunglasses that struck some as blackface. He was featured with Nicki Minaj in a VMA pre-show performance. (view clip above – Will.i.am and his helmet hair appear about mid-way)

On The Young Turks, a couple of people who aren’t black discussed it.

I’m kinda with Cenk Uygur. I’ll sum up his overall position: whatevs. Watch for yourself. I think his outfit was edgy & highly stylized but obviously futuristic and not blackface. It’s interesting how imprinted these racial stereotypes are – the hip hop generation (X, Y & millennials) was not exposed to blackface as sanctioned, contemporary entertainment like the Baby Boomers and Greatest Generation. But we’re still as a nation freaked out by anything that even reminds us of it. That’s how toxic it was.

Will.i.am responded to the controversy yesterday on his twitter account @iamwill on his Blackberry  (via AllHipHop):

“1st. just because I where (sic) all black including head mask as expression and emphasize my outfit, it shouldn’t be looked at as racial,” he tweeted. “Let go of the past. there are far more important things 2 bark about. (Jobs, health, education) not a black man wearing all black everything.”

He followed up those 2 tweets with this one:

Are you guys serious? my outfit set “black people back 100 yrs” choose your twits wisely. no education sets people back, no jobs, bad health

Look I’ve been a fan of the Black Eyed Peas since before they were huge stars and part of a movement toward positive, smart hip hop. Those were the pre-Fergie days and resulted in a couple of really good, early BEP albums you should definitely download.

Will.i.am wears his progressive heart on his sleeve. He’s a passionate humanitarian and environmentalist. His music video featuring an Obama speech set to music helped to galvanize the 2008 campaign and get a brother elected. That Yes We Can video can still move me to tears, y’all. And Will’s comin’ 100% correct: there are much bigger issues at stake than what one rapper and musician wore at an awards show. We need to focus on getting America educated, healthy and back to work. So thanks Will.i.am for keeping it real. All the haters should just stop the jockin’. And everyone else should think about how we as a people can dress for success, for the future and not wink at the past…

After the jump, here’s the followup video from Will.i.am, We Are The Ones plus his notes which I think still ring true today…thanks illwilly

people say Obama’s words are just words…
but…
when was the last time “words” weren’t important…???…

when was the last time a great leader didn’t use words to lead…??…
when was the last time a person didn’t use words to describe how they felt…?…
when was the last time “words” weren’t empowering…?…

and we can all recall the last time “words” were used to divide us and install fear…

Bush used words to fear us into voting for him the second time around…
terror this…
terror that…
nuclear here…
weapons of mass destruction there…

and those words effected a lot of people’s choices…

“enough is enough”…
let’s rebuild…

let’s change ourselves…
let’s allow positivity to guide us…

let’s take action….
let’s activate our passion…
we are Americans….

and this is the first time in forever that someone running for president represents “US”…

some say this is all excitement…
I call it “proud to be an American”…

some say this whole Obama movement is “cult like”…
well…
if it comes across cult like…
then…
the cult is called America…

the Obama movement is connecting America.
and it has made “US” realize our importance…
the youth is excited and activated…
adults are passionate and motivated…
the elderly are proud to know the country they built is in safe hands…

we are one…

for too long politics has been corrupt…
separate from the American people…
with agendas that go against what the American people “need”…
education…
health…
safety…
jobs
etc…

politicians have spoken a different language…
making it so the youth and poor people feel as if voting was only for the wealthy and old people…
making “US” feel as if “we” had no voice…
making “US” feel powerless…
making it feel like if “we” did vote it wouldn’t change anything…

but wait…
that did happen…
some of us voted, and it didn’t change anything…

we were in the dark…
we had no voice…
we were powerless…

because America was not a united America…
and “they” spoke a different language…
and they had an agenda different from our well being…

correct me if I’m wrong… or speak up if I’m missing something…

we want education, health, safety, and good jobs…right???…
oh yeah…
and “a healthy planet to live on”…

but here we are…

in a war… poor education… poor health programs… the dollar is down… the planet, polluted…
the rich, richer… and the poor, struggling…
with sky high gas prices to top it all off…

and now even the rich aren’t really rich internationally because our dollar is has fallen so far down…

in our slumber… a very small few got really rich…

because when you’re sleeping…

“it’s hard to change agendas”…

we know what happened in 2000 and 2004…
but in 2008…
it’s different…

we are awake…
and there is a movement…

and “it’s hard to change a movement”…

last time “we” didn’t have a movement…
America wasn’t united…

and now “United and “Standing”…for something…
we know the power of “US”…
and we have a person who represents the “U.S.”…

“US”…

“we are the ones we’ve been waiting for”…

I’m proud to be an American…

will.i.am