Social Justice Event- Macklemore Concert

I’m using the Macklemore and Ryan Lewis concert for my social justice event. I’m using his concert because a lot of his songs relate to what we discuss in class and also relate a lot to the readings we read.  For example he has two songs that relate to Johnson and Christensen very well.  One song is called White Privilege and it’s about privilege and being a white rapper.  He talks about in there how the culture of power in the rap industry is predominantly black.  He talks about his struggles as a white rapper and how all they see is the color of his skin and not his abilities.  He talks about how it’s not about black or white but how its about good music.  This song relates to Johnson because he is talking about the issues of privilege.

            He has another song called A wake, and it relates to what Christensen’s reading is about as well as Johnson’s.  Christensen argues that schools need to help student’s acquire tools to interpret the media and other cultural texts in order to recognize stereotypes and oppression.  It talks about how neighborhoods are so bad that not even white people will go through it because they fear something bad will happen. This song is about privilege. He has this one line in that song that relates to Johnsons piece about privilege and Rodney kings story.  He has a whole part in this song that talks about how when Rodney king was beaten and nobody cared or tried to help.  His song also relates to Johnson because he speaks about the privilege and doesn’t keep it hidden.

            He performed the song Same Love, which is about Marriage equality.  This song relates to safe spaces because he has a line in the song when he talks about how kid are in the hallways of schools feeling pain.  Also how he talks about that its okay to be different.  This song is about standing up for gay rights and fighting the stereotypes.