Hov’s theory on racism
All January, Oprah‘s OWN Network will be airing programming centered around civil rights and racism conversations, as we approach the landmark 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery marches, coinciding perfectly with the feature film, Selma, which is currently in theaters.
Yesterday, OWN aired a montage of several former “masters” and their commentary on the ever-prevalent issues, and Jay Z shared his very interesting perception on just how much Hip-Hop has done to help racism and ease over racial tensions among its listeners and participants.
I think that Hip Hop has done more for racial relations than most cultural icons and I say, save Martin Luther King because his dream speech we realized when President Obama got elected. This music didn’t only influence kids from urban areas. It influenced people around the world. Racism is taught in the home. I truly believe that racism is taught when you’re young. So, it’s very difficult to teach racism when your kid looks up to Snoop Doggy Dogg. If you look at clubs and you look at how integrated they have become. Before people partied in separate clubs — there were Hip Hop clubs and there were techno clubs — now, people party together and once you have people partying, dancing and singing along to the same music, then conversations naturally happen after that. Within conversations, we all realize that we’re more alike than we’re separate.
You can watch the full clip above.
