♪ (punk rock intro) ♪
- (rapping) ♪ With all due respect ♪
♪ I don't have pity for you black [bleep] ♪
- What the fu--?!
- ♪ I don't have pity for you black [bleep] ♪
- Oh! I've heard about this video.
- I've seen this, but I don't think I saw the entire thing.
- I've definitely seen this.
The biggest issue, in my opinion, in the United States right now.
- ♪ Screamin' "Black Lives Matter" ♪
♪ All the Black guys rather be deadbeats ♪
♪ Than pay your bills ♪
♪ Yellin' "[Bleep] this" and "[Bleep] that" ♪
- Oh [bleep].
- I was so confused the first time I saw this.
I thought it was the white guy in this video who was writing it.
- ♪ As soon as I say "[Bleep]" then everyone react ♪
♪ And wanna swing at me and call me racist ♪
♪ 'Cause I ain't Black ♪
♪ Talkin' about slavery like you was around back then ♪
♪ Like you was pickin' cotton off the [bleep] ground back then ♪
- What the hell is he--?! - ♪ ...gettin' down back then ♪
♪ I see a Black man aimin' his gun ♪
♪ But I'd rather see a Black man claimin' his son ♪
- I hate when they say that!
- ♪ And I work my ass off and I pay my taxes for what? ♪
♪ So you can keep livin' off free government assistance? ♪
♪ Food stamps for your children, but you're still tryna sell 'em ♪
♪ For some weed and some liquor or a [bleep] babysitter ♪
♪ While you party on the road 'cause you ain't got no [bleep] goals ♪
- Someone's drilling my head with racism.
That's what it feels like, listening to people like this.
- ♪ My voice been back ♪
♪ I'm not racist, my sister's boyfriend's Black ♪
- That doesn't mean anything!
- That's the first argument every person goes to
when they say they're not racist.
- ♪ I'm not racist, and I never lie ♪
♪ But I think there's a disconnect between your culture and mine ♪
- This is just too reminiscent of the time period.
- ♪ But you ride 2Pac's [bleep] like he was a [bleep] god, oh my god! ♪
♪ And all you care 'bout is rappin' ♪
♪ And stuntin' and bein' rachet, and that's the [bleep] within you ♪
- (sighing) Oh, jeez-louise.
- ♪ ...start to convince you ♪
- I really don't know where this is going.
- I actually don't have words.
- ♪ ...on those drinks ♪
♪ Blame it on everybody... ♪ - It's so messed up.
- ♪ Blame it on white privileges ♪
♪ Blame it on white kids ♪
♪ And just blame it on white citizens ♪
- Holy [bleep].
- ♪ How dare you try to make demands for this money? ♪
♪ You gon' show us some respect ♪
♪ You gon' stand for this country, [bleep]! ♪
- Oh!
- Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Did he just say the hard R?
- ♪ I heard Eminem's rap at the awards ♪
- What?
- ♪ I can't take you nowhere without people pointin' fingers ♪
♪ Pants hangin' off your ass, you ain't got no home trainin'? ♪
- There are too many people in this world
who actually thoroughly believe this.
- ♪ Quit the pitiful stuff ♪
♪ And then maybe police would stop killin' you [bleep] ♪
- Shut the [bleep] up. Shut the [bleep] up.
- ♪ But there's two sides to every story ♪
♪ I wish that I knew yours ♪
- ♪ With all disrespect ♪
♪ I don't really like you white [bleep] ♪
- This is it. Yes.
- ♪ Screaming "All Lives Matter" ♪
♪ Is a protest to my protest, what kind of shit is that? ♪
- True.
- People don't understand that.
- ♪ The power in the word "[Bleep]" is a different sin ♪
♪ We shouldn't say it, but we do ♪
♪ And that's just what it is ♪
♪ But that don't mean that you can say it ♪
♪ Just 'cause you got [bleep] friends ♪ - That's true.
- ♪ That word was originated for you to keep us under ♪
- For real.
- ♪ ...we know that's just how we greet each other ♪
♪ And when you use it, we know there's a double meaning under ♪
- Mm-hmm.
- ♪ ...I wasn't picking cotton physically ♪
♪ That don't mean I'm not affected by the history ♪
♪ My grandmomma was a slave, that [bleep] gets to me ♪
- Yeah, it really wasn't that long ago.
That's the thing you gotta remember.
- ♪ It's hard to elevate when this country's ran by whites ♪
♪ Judging me by my skin color and my blackness ♪
♪ Tryna find a job but ain't nobody called me back yet ♪
- That's facts. Ooh!
- ♪ You think you know everything... ♪
- Now rethinking about it.
- The white guy looks like he's listening
and trying to understand what he's saying.
- ♪ [Bleep], I'm exhausted ♪
♪ I can't even drive without the cops tryna start [bleep] ♪
- That, very true!
I have a personal story about that.
- ♪ And even though Barack was half as black ♪
♪ You hated President Obama, I know that's a fact ♪
♪ You couldn't wait to get him out and put a cracker back ♪
♪ And then you gave us Donald Trump and now it's payback for that ♪
♪ I'm not racist, I never lied ♪
♪ But I know there's a disconnect between your culture and mine ♪
- This is a really well-done video.
- ♪ Blame it on Black [bleep] and blame it on Black citizens ♪
- The only good, positive thing I can say about this
is that it's showing conversation.
- ♪ I'm not racist, but I cry a lot ♪
♪ You don't know what it's like to be in a frying pot ♪
- They don't. They don't.
That's just-- flat out, they don't know what it's like.
- ♪ You don't know what it's like to mind your business ♪
♪ And get stopped by the cops ♪
♪ And not know if you 'bout to die or not ♪
- There's so much passion behind these lyrics, too.
It all feels too real just because it is.
- ♪ I'm not racist ♪
♪ But there's two sides to every story and now you know mine ♪
- I guess both sides are just saying you don't understand.
- ♪ Can't erase the scars with a bandage ♪
♪ I'm hopin' maybe we can... ♪ - Hug it out after that?
Are you kidding me?
- Yeah, hug it out. Yes.
- ♪ I'm not racist ♪
- "We were all humans until race disconnected us,
religion separated us, politics divided us,
and wealth classified us."
Dang, that's deep.
- That's a lot to take in.
- That was a good video.
This is the conversation that needs to happen more often.
- There's a part of me that wants to agree with that,
but you can't just throw away all of the literal systematic oppression
that's been put to one side.
It's a good step, I guess, but there has to be so much more done.
- All I really want is there to be some sort of proper discussion,
but even that, I feel like we don't get anywhere.
But at least we have something like this sort of video,
where it's hard and to the point, but it's so people
sort of get it through their heads that you can't say certain things
because you're not understanding
where minorities especially are coming from,
until you hear them out.
- (FBE) So this was the video for "I'm Not Racist,"
by rapper Joyner Lucas.
Had you heard of him before? - Mm-mm.
- I've heard of the music video before,
but I've never heard of the individual artist.
- I have heard it before.
I had a couple friends send it to me, and the first time I heard it,
I heard just the first verse.
I was like, "Why am I listening to this?
This sounds terrible."
And then I had to listen to the second half to get,
"Oh, okay, that's what it means."
- (FBE) How did you feel listening to this?
- Just completely uncomfortable.
- Uncomfortable, to say the least.
I just think the video, as a whole, shouldn't have been made.
It's not what this country needs right now.
This just stokes the fire and just makes it worse.
- I feel like I'm supposed to say I felt represented, but I didn't.
I didn't feel represented at all, and the reason why
I didn't feel represented is because I've argued
those same points multiple times, but they don't do anything.
I understand where he's coming from.
It's a good place he's coming from. I understand that,
but he should have done more.
- That shocked me.
You know, I haven't seen a lot of stuff that really gets to me.
(growling)
He was really talking about truthful stuff
that's happening in the media, all over, you know,
the United States today.
- I feel happy to see that someone cares
and that there's artists out there who have an agenda.
- It seems made to be more liberal, so some might not like the video
and it might seem more closed minded to them
and they might be shut down.
You can't just marginalize people and discriminate
based on race if you don't even talk to them
and you don't even listen to what their backstories are.
- I desperately do still want to hear Republican's side of things,
and conservative's types of things, just because I want
to understand where they're coming from
instead of just sort of throwing my opinions and trying
to just get some sort of change without hearing them out.
- (FBE) As a teenager in Los Angeles, do you feel like racism
is still an issue in this country?
- We haven't made any progress.
Do you know what we've done?
We've dug it under in a hole. That's what we've done.
We've hid it. We've hid history.
- (FBE) Have you had any personal experiences
involving racism?
- Personally, I have not had any experiences involving racism.
- I personally haven't had any experiences involving racism.
- I've had a couple friends walk down the street
and, you know, tell me that some person
yelled at them when they found out they were Mexican.
That's a little messed up.
- I've experienced some racism at a young age.
I'm in history class and I'm just reading about
all these things that's happened in the past with Jim Crow,
slavery, segregation, and those are over,
but, you know, some people are still going to be prejudiced, too.
- When I was applying to colleges and things like that,
I was hearing a lot from other people, "Oh, you'll get into anywhere.
Don't worry. You're Mexican."
Because of affirmative action. Like, it's that easy,
that because there's an affirmative action program,
I'm bound to get in anywhere?
It's like, are you kidding me?
I had a 4.8 GPA in high school.
I did not get in here because of a government program.
- Every minority at some point in their life
will face this racism.
For example, me.
Literally a month ago, I got pulled over for no reason.
I was like, "So officer, you know, just out of respect,
why did you pull me over?"
And he goes, "We saw you pull out of the--"
There's this little town center.
He's like, "We saw you pull out of that really fast."
And I was like, "First of all, I wasn't even in the town center.
I was across the town center at Chase bank."
And he just looks at me, and I'm like,
"So what was your reason to pull me over?"
And he's like, "Have a good day, sir," and he walks away.
Three cops. Why? Why?
You know? Why?
It just doesn't make sense and people wonder, you know,
why is this such an important topic, this and that?
Because it's reality.
- In LA, a lot of people would think that
because we're so multi-cultural that racism isn't here,
but it's always here.
When I go to places like Beverly Hills,
I'm being followed around in stores that I know I could afford
whatever I'm getting.
It happens every time and it's like once I buy the stuff,
they're shocked that I could actually buy
a bottle of Fenty Beauty and it's like--
it's stupid and it's annoying.
Racism is still here.
A lot of us go through it everyday.
- (FBE) Well, this rap went viral and sparked a lot of conversations
with various viewpoints.
Many praised the rap, calling it a powerful concept
that provides perspectives from both sides of the story.
Do you think it was successful in doing so?
- Yes. Yeah.
We are having conversations, therefore it was effective.
- In the video, he said so much of what I wish I could say,
and sometimes I would be too shy or nervous
to say at that time, but the man is just intelligent.
- He addressed every current issue that people think is going on
with the African American community, and he came right back
and said, "Okay, well, this is why that issue is what it is
and no one's fixing it."
- I would say it was successful in starting a conversation.
I just hope the conversations that were started,
they just weren't repeating the video.
- It comes down to the people that watch it,
to keep this topic relevant, not just to watch
and now have this hype over it and fight for rights for a day or two,
and then forget about it a month later
because, yeah, I just got over it.
That's not how this works.
This is something you have to fight for 24-7.
I think the rapper's doing an amazing job
of setting this foundation for people to continue this path.
- (FBE) For some people, the rap missed the mark,
with many discussing how the idea that things can be solved
by knowing the other side is too simple of a solution,
and when you think deeper, it oversimplifies the real problems
with racism.
What do you think about the take on this?
- I mean, for me, at the end of the video,
he just wanted a Hollywood ending.
He could've definitely taken a different perspective on that.
- When he hugged him, it made me feel weird
because it's like, he just called you the N-word
with the hard R and then said the N-word
as if he was Black, like, not too long ago,
probably five minutes before you started rapping,
he was saying all this and you're just going to hug him?
- You're going from screaming racial slurs at each other,
and then you're just gonna hug it out?
Do you think this nation's just going to hug it out?
It doesn't make any sense.
- It was just enough to get the point across to everyone
because if he would've gone too much,
I think people would've clicked off right away,
but this is just enough.
This is easy. It's so simple.
It's one side-- here's one side's argument.
Here's the other side of the argument.
And if we can both, you know, talk about this
and put our differences aside, then we can come together.
- It's not just as easy as talking to someone
and having racism gone. That's not gonna happen.
But it's smaller conversations, which might slowly get there,
and it might get the ball rolling.
- Wow, something on the internet didn't please everybody?
Shocker! Who cares?
Who cares-- dude, bro. Bro, okay, look.
The goal was to have a discussion about race.
That's what we're doing. Mission accomplished.
- (FBE) So finally, do you think this video
helped progress on the subject of racism,
or do you think they didn't successfully
address the issue?
- It's just gonna become more controversial.
Yes, it's going to strike up conversation,
but it's not the higher level, educated-on-the-subject,
understanding conversation we need.
It's just gonna be yelling back and forth at each other.
- I don't feel like we're going to move forward
until we see a big difference in the government,
and until we see a big difference in conversations,
where conversations are moving away from Twitter,
but into real life.
- Protests are always nice, where you actually have numbers
of people coming together, that, honestly,
I think to me, is the biggest symbol of try and move somewhere,
rather than, I don't know, likes on a Twitter video
just because you can't really see the community that surrounds that.
- It did, I think, spark a conversation,
and I think that that's the first step in what's needed.
Even if you're uncomfortable-- I was uncomfortable
watching this video.
Try to have a conversation. Try to understand.
- It successfully did address the issue.
It did set a platform for people to actually work on.
But again, it comes down to people, if they're gonna
actually do something about it, or are they just gonna watch it,
get hype over it, and then forget about it
in a month. So it's up to the people.
(silence)