“But if you’re thinkin’ bout’ my baby, it don’t matter if you’re black or white!” Sang Michael Jackson in one of his most revolutionary songs, “Black or White”. This oldie talks a lot about how colour doesn’t make you a better or worse person and just about race altogether.

  But this wasn’t the last time that this topic was touched in the music industry. We’re talking about “This is America” by Childish Gambino, “The Story of OJ” by Jay Z, “Everybody” by Logic and a whole list that has these types of messages regarding race (or any kind of) issues.

  Now, of course, these guys don’t just make those songs for no reason. If you do some research and brush up on some history, you’d probably be shocked to find out that the majority of these types of songs are made when some tragic event happens.

Although the Civil Rights Act was approved by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, the United States is still plagued with racial tension and police brutality. That law was the first time our country made a decision to address discrimination and labour laws in the United States. It makes it against the law to keep people from working based on race, colour, religion, sex, or country of origin.  

 Take “They Don’t Really Care About Us” (Which is another MJ song) for example. It was made in 1995, which was the same year of when a group of terrorists bombed one of the federal buildings in Oklahoma City, killing over 100 people and took down about half of the building.

  Or what about when “This is America” was published? It was brought out just last year, which was around the same time when a bunch of racial incidents have happened.

For instance, Keith Lamont Scott, a 43-year-old black man from South Carolina, was shot due to an officer’s “mistake”, thinking that he was holding a gun when in reality, it was a book.

Trayvon Martin, who was also an African American, when he was shot for holding a bag of skittles. It’s pretty ridiculous to many Americans and culturally unfair.

  But Despite these musicians’ efforts to stop this type of brutality, it unfortunately still goes on to this day. And not just for blacks, but for humanity as a whole.

  A white teenager from Ontario, Canada, who goes by the name of David Huggeston, had some background information for us on this topic. He claims that when he was in junior high school, blacks and Hispanics would always call him “White A$$ Paper.”

 The agent also added that they’d plea that they were “just kidding”, but he thought otherwise.

  But racism isn’t the only type of discrimination that occurs nowadays. In fact, now people will make fun of you for anything.

  Angelous Dusk is a 20-year-old African American from Los Angeles and states that he used to be bullied as well, but by whites this time. “They’d always make fun of my height and how my face looked”, he exclaimed. “Nothing about race or religion though.”

  But how about we ask someone who ALSO produces music? Zaman Alabbas, an 8th grader who makes her own music as a hobby AND future career path, said some pretty significant things about the topic at hand.

  “When you think of it, there are ups and downs throughout society. I also agree with MJ’s song because of the position (his skin changes) he was in at the time.” She explained.

  She also added that it made sense for them to make those songs because of the situations at hand, as well as how it’s OKAY to include race into music, as long as it doesn’t go overboard.

  “I’ve been turned down before because of my gender and my looks, but I didn’t think it mattered. I was doing what I wanted to do and knew that looks didn’t affect what you can or cannot achieve,” she said.

  Many fundraisers and protest, both peaceful and hostile, have been made to stop this type of behaviour. One of the most popular and notable ones is #BlackLivesMatter.

This unhostile protest really blew up in 2016, when OTHER certain incidents happened. Not to mention another major movement that’s been around the mid-1800s – 1960’s, known as the “Civil Rights Movement”.

  All in all, racial offence needs to stop spreading. I feel that there needs to be more awareness for it and that if there isn’t going to be an end to it anytime soon, then the world’s serious problems are going to get even bigger. We may even somehow repeat our history over again.

Written By Ahmad Seif