By: Shawon Canady
Social media has been in an uproar over Lecrae’s recent Twitter post. He posted the above picture with the following caption: “My Family July 4th 1776.”
It should come as no surprise that Lecrae has received a lot of backlash from the post. One user told Lecrae, “Done supporting you bro, you make everything a race [issue] lately instead of a gospel issue. You promote guilt instead of love.” Lecrae quickly replied by re-tweeting a post by the user, done the same day, saying, “How the hood celebrates 4th of July.” The picture revealed what appeared to be a black man holding a gun.
Some have gone as far as to say that Lecrae is being a racist, promoting issues that promote hate instead of love. The Christian Hip-Hop community has often expressed its views on racism and prejudice, but Lecrae and other Reach Record artists are presented with a particular challenge—they have already crossed many racial barriers with their music, or so we thought. Apparently no one realized that Lecrae is black.
Opinions vary, as some say that we are indeed free now and that posts and comments such as these should not be posted. The problem I see with this propaganda is being blind to the truth. This is not a made up event, but is actually something that happened.
We can pretend like racism is not a factor in the US if we want, but that would be naïve. At the end of the day, being Colorblind, a topic discussed in an older Force Radio show with King Lady, is a problem.
Lecrae was not being racist by posting the truth. This is a free country today, but at what cost? To deny the oppression of an entire race of people is frivolous, and to not acknowledge that it still affects both blacks and whites is behooving.
At the end of the day, we all have to take the short end of the stick and swallow our spit. No, not every white man is racist because of their ancestors, but if healing is to be reached, acknowledgement is key.
We are not 14 generations down the line, but we essentially talking about the enslavement of his great-great grandparents, and the distain of his great-grandparents. Not only him, but for everyone in the black community.
Now let’s flip it. If he posted the same picture of his ancestors, and he was white, would this be an issue? Let me know what you think, let’s rectify Body of Christ!
The question posed at the end of this article is something to ponder on. I truly believe that you would NOT see a white person picking cotton if the ball was in the other corner. The picture would be total opposite. Its real! We must grasp the truth, its not pretty but we can’t deny our past. Our generation must embrace our history and all its oppressions in order for healing to come. The comment against Lecrae’s post is from someone who does not see deeper to the truth of what we are truly facing.