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The Cycle Of Oppression

A white man's reflection on the sins of his history.

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Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay

The Last Question

Oppression it's a cycle

Think AI or Michael

We're Messi, haven't clean sheet in while. [1]

Dominate the stars

Drank Dom 'n ate caviar

But you hear the music? [2]

For it's time to pay the piper

Forefathers paid to pipe her.

Picked three hos and laughed (ho ho ho)

Like gas from a shaft

We spread danger in the chamber

And chained her to a stranger.

Swooped her to appease the creditor [3]

Wrote off a piece in super predator,

And when they saw the paper in crack

We criminalized black and called it their right state.

"Black men have no conscience our empathy and must be brought to heel"

But our conscience hung black men on empty trees to never heal. [4]

We played the hate trump but bs'd like a pres on tour

The house of cards is just about power more for evermore.

Thought we were getting pea nut better

But we still jam them in letter, [5]

Bound to band behind a Barretta

Left confused by their rights

That leaves them dead on sight

White Christ flashing red and blue lights. [6]


[1] - Oppression is a cycle, the oppressed rise up against the oppressors to turn the wheel of oppression. However, the oppression of black people has never stopped in the U.S. The white man has not been replaced as the oppressor. Think AI or Michael relates to two other cycles. AI, or artificial intelligence, has been said to be the next step in the cycle of consciousness. In particular "The Last Question", by Isaac Asimov, discusses what this cycle might look like. "AI" combined with "Michael" refers to Allen Iverson and Michael Jordan; the cycle of talent in sports. Records are always broken. The last line states that the cycle of oppression has not been in motion for awhile. It also refers to Lionel Messi scoring goals.

[2] - The first line "dominate the stars" refers to white people dominating most of the fame in the U.S. The next line expands on that thought. The final line "but you hear the music" refers to Hip Hop being created by black people and being the most popular music today. This also ties into the next line by referring to the Pied Piper. These two meanings are complete separate.

[3] - These lines represent the sins of white people in the past generations. The lines talk about slavery and the Holocaust.

[4] - These lines talk about past sins but not so long ago. They refer to Nixon's War on Drugs and Hillary Clinton saying that "Super Predators," which was just a made up word for young black men, "have no conscious or empathy … and we must bring them to heel" in defense of Bill Clinton's Three Strike rule. The last line juxtaposes what Hillary said with the lynching of young black men in the U.S.

[5] - The first line in this series talks about cards, President Trump, and hatred. "We played the hate trump" is saying that white people chose Trump out of hatred. "But we bs'd like a pres on tour" is saying white people actually lied about hating black people. It also refers to the lying president Trump did on his campaign. However, it also refers to a card game called BS, where you lie about what cards you play. We played our "hate trump" (best card) but it was really just a lie to win the game. "the house of cards is all about power more forever more" this line answers the question above which is if we aren't all racists, then why did we choose Trump? Because of power. It also refers to the show about politics, House of Cards, thus bringing both the political and card metaphors together. The last two lines refer to white people believing and saying "at least its getting better" in regards to the oppression of black, and Hispanic people. "We still jam them in letter" refers to the n word.

[6] - The last lines refer police violence. I'm not saying that black people are going to start killing cops, I'm just saying that white people should be grateful that they aren't. The "white Christ" symbolizes white oppression. James Cone wrote that the symbols of Christ need to change. Christ was a champion of the oppressed, not the triumphant: therefore, Christ needs to be identifiable to the oppressed not to the oppressors.

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