modern day connections
“On Feb. 26, I lost my life too. That was me yelling for help when he drowned in his blood/why didn’t he defend himself? Why couldn’t he throw a punch?/ And for a community, do you know what this does?/ Add to a trail of hatred, 2012 was taken from the world to see, set us back another 400 years/this is modern-day slavery,” -Kendrick Lamar
The legacy of the Black Power Movement has been kept alive because of influential African American groups and celebrities who strongly advocate for the beliefs of black power as a response to the recent rise in black oppression.
In Beyonce’s super bowl performance, Beyonce and her backup dancers formed an X to represent Malcolm X and the Black Power Movement. The dance and symbol represented Beyonce's support of the morals and ideas surrounding the Black Power Movement. Beyonce using a symbol from someone as powerful as Malcolm X shows how the beliefs of the Black Power Movement are still resonating today. The beliefs of black power have greatly impacted the racism in America that is still prevalent today, and the struggles of African Americans of the 21st century are voiced through influential people like Beyonce.
Beyoncés performance of ¨formation¨ at the superbowl
Black lives matter Art Black Power MOVEMENT art
A current movement in America called ¨Black Lives Matter¨ is a stand against police brutality. The black lives matter movements surrounds recent riots as the result of the deaths of people such as Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice. We have also recently seen college protests, walk outs, and boycotts in schools like Mizzou and Cornell. The importance of the black lives matter movement is that many of the objectives of the movement are the same or similar to the objectives of the Black Power Movement. This is significant because African Americans are still fighting to make a change to end police brutality and have been fighting for the same goal since the 1960s with no change.
Kendrick lamars performance of ¨Alright¨
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Kendrick Lamar is also a powerful voice for the Black Power Movement because of his music that talks about black oppression in America as well as references to Huey Newton, MLK Jr and Malcolm X in his song ‘HiiiPower’. His use of these powerful people in his songs help America find the connections between where we are now as a country and where we were then. These songs emphasize that we have not made the progress that we should have made since the Black Power Movement.
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