Macklemore's "Same Love" : Ally or Exploitation?

[ProfPacker]

Thank you, Martina. This point about rewriting history is an important one. I teach on Staten Island and one of the assignments I give my social work students is to create the history of Staten Island that is not in the history books. The are always amazed the Native people occupied Staten Island before the Dutch and proud, mind you, that the first brewery in the colonies was Staten Island. Not sure which fact these kids were more enamored with, lol

[Medusa]

Originally Posted by femmepacker

Thank you, Martina. This point about rewriting history is an important one. I teach on Staten Island and one of the assignments I give my social work students is to create the history of Staten Island that is not in the history books. The are always amazed the Native people occupied Staten Island before the Dutch and proud, mind you, that the first brewery in the colonies was Staten Island. Not sure which fact these kids were more enamored with, lol

Not to mention that we are still raising kids in this country to believe that the generous Pilgrims sat down with the uncivilized "natives" and had a big, happy Thanksgiving dinner with a biggo punkin' pieeeeee.

No mention of the deaths, rapes, and homes destroyed.

And my eyes roll so hard in the back of my head when I read the fictitious accounts of Custer's Last Stand that I think I can see my brain stem.

[ProfPacker]

Or the boarding schools for Native children to "tae the savage out of them". We can go on and on. In a sense, that is why I think we have to be careful about our response to the Grammy's... do we want it said of the dominant class... of course they supported same-sex marriage ....look what they did at the Grammy's. So, lets see and, as always I ask myself what I need to do to go out of my comfort zone... to make change.
I wondered how the child of a heterosexual couple would have viewed it... because my kid did not feel it rang bells. So lets say being human is confusing

[Selenay]

Originally Posted by femmepacker

Or the boarding schools for Native children to "tae the savage out of them". We can go on and on. In a sense, that is why I think we have to be careful about our response to the Grammy's... do we want it said of the dominant class... of course they supported same-sex marriage ....look what they did at the Grammy's. So, lets see and, as always I ask myself what I need to do to go out of my comfort zone... to make change.
I wondered how the child of a heterosexual couple would have viewed it... because my kid did not feel it rang bells. So lets say being human is confusing

As a queer 20-something raised by two straight people, I saw a lot of white straight faces in that marriage ceremony and that didn't really super thrill me when the whole thing was supposed to be about acceptance and tolerance and GAYMCA pride.

[*Anya*]

5.8.2013

BY STACY LAMBE

How a straight white rapper from Seattle wrote hip-hop’s first gay anthem.

"...Asked what served as his inspiration for “Same Love,” he hangs his head and thinks for a moment. “I knew I wanted to write a song about gay rights, about marriage equality, and about homophobia in hip-hop, but I didn’t know how to do it,” he says. “I tried, at first, writing from the perspective of a gay, bullied kid. That’s what sparked the song in the first place: reading the story of a 13-year-old who committed suicide.”

It was at that point that Lewis intervened, pushing the rapper to write a personal narrative instead. The result was an account of Macklemore’s struggle with his own sexuality as a kid.

Both he and Lewis grew up surrounded by gay adults. Lewis’s uncle is gay and has been living with HIV for 30 years. “Growing up with a gay uncle and having him be a huge part of our family -- I don’t think my parents’ outlook would be the same if it weren’t for him,” Lewis says. “He’s had a strong influence on us throughout the years.” Macklemore was raised in Capitol Hill, a liberal, gay-friendly district of Seattle.

The men closest to him -- his uncle Johnny and his godfather -- are gay. “Where I grew up, there were huge gay pride parades less than a mile away from me,” Macklemore says. “My dad’s best friend was gay. My barber was gay. My uncles owned this restaurant that was a huge magnet for the gay community. My whole upbringing was around gay people.”

Macklemore grew up Catholic, but was questioning his sexuality by the third grade. His mother, a social worker, reassured him that he was straight, but not without encouraging him to take up ballet lessons as a display of solidarity for a classmate who was being bullied. That period of confusion, and his sympathy for his ostracized peer, has stayed with him.

..."

http://www.out.com/entertainment/mus...phop?page=full

[C0LLETTE]

I'm not at all sure that we were the target audience for that performance or that we are the best arbiters of whether it was successful in achieving any goals, assuming it had some. But if it made a lot of straight people feel more comfy and better than they once did about queers and gay marriage, I'm ok with that. And I don't care if it gets to them sub their limin, delivered by the organ grinder's monkey; it does appear that it is getting there.

[Parker]

Originally Posted by Medusa

Not to mention that we are still raising kids in this country to believe that the generous Pilgrims sat down with the uncivilized "natives" and had a big, happy Thanksgiving dinner with a biggo punkin' pieeeeee.

No mention of the deaths, rapes, and homes destroyed.

And my eyes roll so hard in the back of my head when I read the fictitious accounts of Custer's Last Stand that I think I can see my brain stem.

I realize this is slightly off-topic, but your post reminded me of a thread I saw today in Facebook where people were discussing Macklemore's claims that he wanted to say something in his acceptance speech about how Kendrick should have won, but he froze. Some people asked if they all were being hard on the guy and in response, another person posted this YouTube clip of Marlon Brando's refusal, via Sacheen Littlefeather, the President of the National Native American Affirmative Image Commity, to accept his Oscar in 1973.

[ProfPacker]

Originally Posted by Parker

I realize this is slightly off-topic, but your post reminded me of a thread I saw today in Facebook where people were discussing Macklemore's claims that he wanted to say something in his acceptance speech about how Kendrick should have won, but he froze. Some people asked if they all were being hard on the guy and in response, another person posted this YouTube clip of Marlon Brando's refusal, via Sacheen Littlefeather, the President of the National Native American Affirmative Image Commity, to accept his Oscar in 1973.

thank you and wow, little different than today where we think we make a statement but it riddled by so many rules and regulations. I wonder who would have made a statement like that after Broke Back Mountain?

[julieisafemme]

Macklemore is an ally in my book. I like the song and him as an ally because it obviously comes from a personal place because his uncle is gay.

My kid loves that song because it makes her feel proud that someone is talking about these things who is very popular and on the radio. I guess it is some kind of validation for her about our family.

The Grammy performance was awful. Mary Lambert was pushed to the side. At one point Macklemore stood directly in front of her like she was some kind of backup singer. Not cool! She was the only out queer on the stage! Madonna was sooooo bad I could hardly stand it. Queen Laitifah is welcome to not discuss her sexuality publicly but I would have rather seen an out queer in her place. The whole marriage thing was really over the top for me and it was annoying that straight people were included.

[GeeGina]

While I echo the author's point about "not needing straight boys to validate her existence" Macklemore's getting a few more of them on board won't hurt, either. The rights we're all fighting for aren't going to magically appear and the more sincere allies we have on our side the better, no matter how naive , sheltered, or privileged their viewpoint.

The MORE straight people who see OUR love as decent, genuine, and comparable to theirs means more people seeing our lives in the same light. That means more people refusing to accept offenses against us, less harassment when we express affection in public, more sympathy while we fight for our right to equal protection under the law, and more people who simply believe that no one is free unless everyone is free.

How can that be bad? We need a big tent people. One bitchy, self righteous queer columnist ain't taking us to the mountaintop. Macklemore's in a position of power and influence and on our side. Why not cut the guy a break?

Also, she's dead wrong about hip-hop culture not being homophobic and anyone calling it out as racism. Anyone remember Busta Rhymes? Or Eminem? I do. More to the point, despite their leading role in the Civil Rights Movement, black churches from coast-to-coast STILL struggle with endorsing rights for LGBT people of any color. Many do not see our struggle in the same lights as theirs - and it was the single biggest reason why President Obama supported civil unions, and NOT same-sex marriage during his presidential campaign. He needed their votes.

Lastly, I'm reminded of a passage in "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" when, while speaking at Harvard, a white female student asked sincerely if there was any thing she could do to help the civil rights cause...and Malcolm X said "Nothing" and walked away. He later wrote that he regretted that - denying a sincere person a chance to do the right thing and help the larger cause (BTW...him telling the student there was nothing she could do made the movie...but his regret later didn't).

I did think the mass marriage was a stunt, and it made me uncomfortable.

[The_Lady_Snow]

Frank Ocean is an openly gay artist in the same category as Macklemore, the song is about love, anyone else notice he wasn't mentioned?

We do, other POC do, his music industry does.

It would of been nice for him to have been up there, singing one of his songs.


The author has very good points..

[The_Lady_Snow]

Originally Posted by The_Lady_Snow

Frank Ocean is an openly gay artist in the same category as Macklemore, the song is about love, anyone else notice he wasn't mentioned?

We do, other POC do, his music industry does.

It would of been nice for him to have been up there, singing one of his songs.


The author has very good points..

I had to requote myself cause I was on the phone on this above post, here is the song I am thinking of...