Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Journal #1 : Struggles with Race

Reading this article has shown me that the struggles of the Filipino youth have a lot in common with the Chicano youth, as we are all trying to find our identity in a country that forces you to assimilate in order not to be treated like an outcast.
I found out that many DJ’s want to detach their racial identity from their music as they don’t want pity to be the reason they have achieved success. They also bring up another reason they don’t want their race to be known is to not carry the weight of being the face of their race. At this point I understood why they don’t want to be associated with their race because if they do one wrong move it is automatically reflected on the whole race or add onto the pre-existing stereotypes of them. However, it only applies to POC entertainers as there are many white entertainers who have done a lot of wrongdoings but are excused and passed off as "sick".
POC entertainers aren’t given chances and they are never to forget their mistakes even after they apologize repeatedly and better themselves, but a white entertainer gets unlimited chances and are forgiven when they give half assed apologies. This article has taught me the struggles Filipinos musicians go through and why labeling themselves is not always the best thing.

Question: Does knowing the race of an artist change the perspective of how the listener’s take in the lyrics/message?

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