It’s now been over a week since the new orange overlord of the free world was voted into power, and the backlash has hasn’t let up one bit. After his arresting Jimmy Kimmel performance just before the election, Vic Mensa has spoken out again, penning an open letter with a strong and familiar message to his fans and wider community.
Mensa wasn’t immune to the initial shock of the result, but identifies that this is an opportunity to inflict change in the movement.
“Then, when I woke up in the morning, I realized that this had to happen because we’ve been pacified by having Barack [Obama] in office. That pacification would have only continued by having Hillary elected.”
The Chicago-born rapper implores unity in fighting for a positive cause and a change in motivation behind all movements against oppression. Mensa goes on to say that this alteration to the revolution won’t happen “until we can regroup and re-identify the real issues in our society”
He cites the catch twenty-two of an imperialist and capitalist system that thrive on hatred and limiting the power of the masses.
“For us to make real change, we’re gonna need everyone and people of all different walks of life to recognize the part that they play and how these powers at hand affect them too. I feel like these ideas of racism, bigotry, xenophobia, Islamophobia and homophobia are so damaging to both the hater and the hated because having that type of energy on your heart and on your mind [is hard]”
Trumps campaign thrived on a message of ‘Yes, this is the answer to our problems!’, unfortunately the answer’s he has to offer are horribly misguided.
The 23-year-old’s poignant essay is summarised beautifully in a concluding paragraph that recognises positivity and a clear unified direction as the most necessary weapons in the fight against systematic oppression.
“We need to unify and decide what it is that we really believe in — that’s what we need to fight for. We can’t just fight against injustice. We gotta fight for justice.”
You can read Vic Mensa’s full essay here.
Image: Vic Mensa