Doechii, Tyler Perry call out Trump, attacks on Black culture at BET Awards
"Every time we exercise our democratic right to protest, the military is deployed against us."
At the Tony Awards Sunday night, politics were largely relegated to the subtext. Messages about inclusivity and diversity were conveyed in ways that were obvious to anyone who was paying attention but were too nuanced for Trump and his ilk to take much notice.
A day later at the BET Awards, it was a different story. Both Doechii, the Grammy-winning rapper, and entertainment mogul Tyler Perry made overt statements about the current administration and its multi-pronged attacks on communities of color.
The BET Awards took place Monday night at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, with a military crackdown on anti-ICE protests ongoing nearby.
Accepting the award for best female hip-hop artists, Doechii used the BET stage to call out the situation unfolding just a few miles away in downtown LA. After thanking her fellow nominees, she pivoted to “address what’s happening right now outside of the building”:
There are ruthless attacks that are creating fear and chaos in our communities in the name of law and order. Trump is using military forces to stop a protest, and I want you all to consider what kind of government it appears to be when every time we exercise our democratic right to protest, the military is deployed against us? What type of government is that? People are being swept up and torn from their families. I feel it's my responsibility as an artist to use this moment to speak up for all oppressed people — for Black people, for Latino people, for trans people, for the people in Gaza. We all deserve to live in hope and not in fear. We stand together, my brothers and my sisters, against hate and we protest against it.
As she spoke, the applause grew louder. It was a characteristically bold move for the artist, whose mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal won a Grammy for best rap album in Feburary, making her just the third woman in history to win the category.
Perry, who was there to introduce a performance by Ledisi, took the opportunity to speak out against the erasure of Black history on a night celebrating the best in Black culture and entertainment.
The prolific writer-producer-director-actor began by sharing a story about walking on the beach with his son. “We walked to the end of the beach, and then he looked back footprints at all the footsteps he lad left,” said Perry, whose latest film, Straw, was just released on Netflix.
He continued:
I say that to you tonight because I wanna talk to you about this thing that is happening in this country. I want you to pay attention to it. Don’t miss this. They are removing our books from libraries. They are removing our stories and our history. They are removing our names from government buildings. It’s as if someone wants to erase our footprints. Because what we need to understand is that if our children don't know our history, they won't know our power.
Though he didn’t specifically mention the current administration, it was clear who “they” was supposed to be. As Perry was speaking, the camera cut to Snoop Dogg, who sat stone-faced in the audience. Some viewers interpreted this as a subtle dig at the rapper, who was criticized for performing at a Trump inaugural event in January.
“It’s impossible to erase our footprints, because we left them on water,” Perry said. “We were snatched from our homeland, brought across the ocean, and left footprints all the way to America.”
Even though the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated “to keep his voice down, it still echoes through generations to generations to generations because you cannot erase our footprints,” he said.
And even though a racist mob burned down Tulsa’s Black Wall Street a century ago, “We are still building businesses, making our way … becoming CEOs,” he added. “So this is not the time to be silent. This is not the time to give up. This is the time to dig in and keep leaving footprints everywhere you go.”
Meredith Blake is The Contrarian’s culture columnist.
History isn't history unless it is accurate, inclusive of all who were there and affected, and passed on or documented in some way.
History IS.
Folks who ignore or deny history are "doomed" to repeat.
Problem for democracy in America is that control is in the hands of either intentional deniers of history or those not intelligent enough to read/understand it.
My bet is that the orange tinged enablers see the quick buck for themselves and nothing remotely related to their oath office.
GOP = Oaths what oaths = zero moral compass.