Gearing up for this month’s TV One’s Triumph Awards, T.I. has penned a poem to the “hashtag activists” within the racial justice movement explaining why it’s necessary for their activism to exist outside of the realm of social media.
MSNBC reports that the rapper wrote “United We Stand” to call out those who simply rely on hashtags to ignite change. Check out the poem in full below:
Revolutionary Soundtrack: 9 Songs to Get You Fired Up For Justice
United we stand/ Because we created a hashtag for Sandra Bland
Jumped off the front of the ship and dove into the Internet waves
Swimming with DMs, likes, comments/ Not noticing how much it makes us slaves
Chained by man-made device small enough to fit into the palm of our hand
I guess that’s made it easy to swipe to the left and scroll to the next
And forget about Sandra Bland
United we stand
Because we wore hoodies and t-shirts that read ’Black Lives Matter’
But, ’Quick homie take this flick
Gotta make sure all my followers see this fresh ’fit’
Are we really about the movement or more concerned with our follower count growing fatter?
Secondary to revolutionary does not exist
Our society’s issues are deeper than social media posts, there’s a long list
And if you think solely making them a trending topic will solve them
Well, then, you’re a part of the problem
We are Trayvon Martin
We are Jordan Davis
We are Eric Garner
We are Tamir Rice
We are Walter Scott
We are Eric Harris
We are Freddie Gray
And We are Sandra Bland
United we stand.
Do you agree with T.I.’s message?