Many of us watched the Oscar's last night, and myself included mainly because there was nothing else on. It was going ok, keep in mind award shows bore me to tears, until the performance of "Glory." That was a beautiful song, minus some of the rapping by Common. Once they went up to accept the award my opinion of Legend changed a bit; after all I was thrilled about his comments regarding Kayne West's remarks about Beck from the Grammy's. Here is a transcript of his acceptance speech from this year's Oscars:
Thank you. Nina Simone said it’s an artist’s duty to reflect the times
in which we live. We wrote this song for a film that was based on events
that were 50 years ago, but we say Selma is now, because the struggle
for justice is right now. We know that the voting rights, the act that
they fought for 50 years ago is being compromised right now in this
country today. We know that right now the struggle for freedom and
justice is real. We live in the most incarcerated country in the world.
There are more black men under correctional control today than were
under slavery in 1850. When people are marching with our song, we want
to tell you that we are with you, we see you, we love you, and march on.
I'm not going to comment about any kind of struggle, because there isn't one of the magnitude going on today that happened when MLK was alive and fighting the good fight for equal rights. I'm sure that if MLK were alive to hear that, he would have been insulted beyond comprehension. On a side note, however, were any of MLK's family in attendance last night? I actually remember there being a little hustle and bustle because MLK's speeches were licensed to ANOTHER project and not this one. Interesting, right?
The sentence where he said that voting rights fought for in the past are now being compromised..... THAT had me seeing red. Explain that to me Mr. Legend. How is that even remotely possible when the past few presidential elections have seen RECORD breaking numbers of African Americans voting? How is it even possible when there are, and were, people on both sides of the aisle setting up places in various locations to help aid in the registering of people to vote? There were celebrities getting the word out as well to make sure people registered to vote. I stood in lines for both elections and did not see anyone of any ethnicity being discouraged to vote. I ask of you to not insult my intelligence and that of the American people in spreading those lies. If requiring someone to hold an ID to vote is "compromising" the system, then I ask of you and other people who share your view points, to allow people into the White House with no ID or background check. Allow people at your concerts to have alcohol just based on their good merit of saying they are of legal age. Please, let's try that.
This whole thing about more African American people in jail today then there were slaves... well, now. How do I even begin to say that there are choices we all make? I, for example, choose to obey the law. I choose to not speed, to pay my bills with legally obtained funds. I choose to not dabble in drugs, I choose not to murder animals with illegal fighting rings, or any other kind of activity that is declared illegal by state and federal law. I do this every single day because I do not want to have my freedom taken away from me and I want to be able to have the choice to lay out my destiny. If people are in jail, more than likely they broke the law. Please note that I do know our justice system is imperfect and there people in there who are innocent. The vast majority of them in there though, they did it to themselves because they choose to act and/or do certain things that put them there.
If you really want to get to the heart of it, look at some of the other entertainers you associate yourself with. Most allegedly do drugs, or have sold drugs, brag about it. Most have expensive cars that they claim to drive after drinking and again brag about it through their music or random interviews. Some vandalize hotel rooms or other properties that are not their own and, yes, get away with it. Why is this? Well, these celebrities have highly paid defense attorneys that can get them off with lax community service or nothing at all. Are these consequences rapped about to these young impressionable youths? NO. All these kids see are these celebrities wildly partying with all kinds of drugs at their disposal and being filthy rich for doing something that doesn't require any book smarts, or the most part, and they want to emulate what they see. It's really that simple. Everyone desires wealth and fame, and the entertainment field is seen as easy street for these kids who are their fans.
What I think makes me most upset is that there are people who will blindly agree with him without knowing the facts of what is happening in this nation right now. While these rappers and entertainers are calling for hands up, they have not once called on all of the violent protesters and rioters to stop. I'm sure none of these entertainers would pass up the revenue of one of their concert tickets or album so their fans could study and/or buy a literary novel classic. No, what was said was a response that would have been fitting during MLK's day. Perhaps they never left the movie set in their minds and remained in the times of MLK.
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