"Cynical" by Propaganda ft. Aaron Marsh & Sho Baraka, Monday, January 18, 2021
Today in America is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I chose this song from 2017 as a warning that although things are picking up a little, it's now time to work harder than ever for social justice.
I first heard of Propaganda on the BadChristian Podcast. He talked about his song "Precious Puritans," which deserves a blog post of its own. However, when he came out with the Crooked album in 2017 and had this track with Copeland's Aaron Marsh calling out Christians for their support of politics that forsakes the African American and non-white community, it put into words I could have never formed to tell how angry I had become.
PRAY TO MY SAVIOR, AND MIDDLE FINGER TO MY NEIGHBOR. In an episode of Straight White American Jesus, historian Randall Balmer points out that religious leaders such as Jerry Falwell tried to raise doubt in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Christianity and warned white Christians not to get involved with Civil Rights. Shamefully, that's the same Southern Christianity I was raised in. The kind that doesn't even close their private Christian Schools for MLK Day. Well, maybe school can be in session. We should spend the day learning about the history of rac--NOPE! Class as regularly scheduled. Nothing to see here folks. But HEAVEN FORBID the queers and the trans folks are trying to take my freeeeedumb. Yes, you have to read the last sentence in an accent. And my Seventh-day Adventist background was less militant in the "culture war." Instead, we were taught silent compliance in systems of oppression. My college had a mandatory volunteer day for MLK Day, but I never felt we were actually educated about what the day was supposed to mean.
WHY DO YOU LOVE YOUR GUNS MORE THAN OUR SONS? This song deals mostly with outward, shocking racism as displayed by religious people. People who have theologically reasoned themselves to this point. But 2020 opened our eyes to see that saying "I'm not racist" and "I'm not like those people on TV" is not enough. It's time to examine what systematic racism has done to us as a world. In Korea, why is BB cream, a skin lightener, so popular? I didn't even know what that was until I came here. Apparently, it's prevalent in India too. Do you stand up to bosses who want "white Americans" because the parents want their children to learn "the right pronunciation"? Do you correct coworkers who say ignorant things about people of different races? Do you scold the children for calling each other Chinese or only HALF Korean? Why is that funny? Seriously? Do you acknowledge that the place you are and the job you have is at least partly because of privilege? I've definitely made some mistakes in my teaching career.
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