In honor of MLK day Saul Williams released a new song in collaboration with Haleek Maul. The chorus F*ck U/ Understand Me is a powerful response to the powers that be and a call for all of us to listen and learn. In the accompanying essay on Fader, Williams calls us to understand that we are in this fight together.
Understand that although the divide and conquer tactics of pitting black against white, christian against muslim against jew, can bring worthwhile debate and heightened understanding, it doesn't take much to realize that the true and only fight is against that which has kept women subjugated to men, and poor subjugated to rich. The sooner we understand this without brandishing overtly blind-siding terms like "terrorist" "lazy" the sooner we realize that we are all, in fact, on the same team and that the movement towards a more educated, better fed society should not be side-lined by such petty constructs as race, identity, and that which has kept many groups disenfranchised, silenced, and in debt.
He goes on to speak about the Middle Passage, race as performance and our for-profit criminal justice systems. His words are timely and important. A reminder that we all must work towards understanding.
Read the full article and listen to the song at The Fader.