Who would you be if the world never gave you a label?
Throughout the 2016 election cycle we hear the media and politicians breaking down the presidential race based on skin color. They ask, “How is Bernie courting the ‘black vote’?” or “Why does Trump do so well with ‘blue-collar whites’?” And “Ted Cruz is Cuban, why doesn’t he perform better with Hispanics?” Dig a little deeper and you see how the media and politicians readily define us by skin color instead of our values. How would society change if we shed the labels we’ve been given by others and placed on ourselves? A powerful video by Prince Ea asks that question in his song, “‘I’m NOT Black, You are NOT White.”
Prince Ea compares our bodies to the cars we drive.
Let me break it down
See, our bodies are just cars that we operate and drive around
The dealership will call society decided to label mine the “black edition,”
Yours the “Irish” or “White edition”
And with no money down, zero-percent APR, and no test drive
We were forced to own these cars for the rest of our lives
Forgive me, but I fail to see the logic or pride
In defining myself or judging another by the cars we drive
Because who we truly are is found inside
He discusses how we limit ourself by accepting artificial labels.
And when you let an artificial label define yourself
Then, my friend, you have chosen smallness over greatness and minimized your.... self
Confined and divided your … self from others
Finally, he shows that when we see the world clearly we can evolve as people.
Please listen, labels only distort our vision
Which is why half of those watching this will dismiss it
Or feel resistance and conflicted
But, just remember...
So did the caterpillar
Before it broke through its shell and became the magnificent butterfly
Well, these labels are our shells and we must do the same thing
So we can finally spread our wings
Human beings were not meant to be slapped with labels like groceries at supermarkets
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