Childish Gambino's "This is America"
Yes... Shirtless because of slavery...(slaves were to be naked or near naked to show how useful they would be picking cotton). Also, the end (running, terrified in the dark) could symbolize how I feel as though each day I'm running for my life; trying to stay in the shadows. There is SOOO much to unpack with this video. I've recently read, "The Hate U Give" and "Black Forest/White Rose" and I'm currently reading Trevor Noah's "Born a Crime" Two about Black Space, one about Jewish Space and all of them saying they are tired of being afraid. A line from a different book, says you must "scream quietly" because to make a sound leads to death and you hoped it was instant. Then every day on the news more Black people are being arrested, shot, or just having the police called on them for being Black while: taking a nap at your college library, checking out of your AirBNB, walking down the street, asking for directions, reporting a burglary of your own property, getting into a car accident, walking across the street, sitting in a Starbucks, waiting to pick up your children from elementary school, selling cigarettes, asking a question, and the list goes on........and on..... and on..... You know I'm a giver and a feeler. I feel too much and subsequently hurt too much. It's like this Black Death cloud envelops me as easily as the plague crept all over Europe. But I'm not sure how to purge. I'm not sure how to get the poison out of my throat, lungs, and gut. It's like the hot sticky tar is force fed down my throat and nothing seems to lessen the flow of...liquid death. Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm just crazy and too sensitive to all this. Maybe I just need to unplug for awhile and ?detox? Can you detox? Like, is that even a thing? Or do you step away to get comfortable with the amount of death you've had before you can plug back in and get more; never really realizing you didn't detox, you just learned how to cope full so more doesn't seem so bad?