This song challenges multiple “freedoms that come with the American dream. I have stated before certain identities will allow more access to opportunities than others. The opening scene of the music video shows a prison garud throwing Chuck D, a black man and member of the rap group Public Enemy, into a prison cell and calling him a ” N*gga”. For more context, Chuck D begins rapping about receiving a letter in the mail from the Government to go fight in the war (Iran-Iraq War in 1987). As a black man, he believed he would be a “sucker ” for fighting for a country that” never gave a d*mn about a brother like [him].” I found it interesting that he was willing to go to jail instead of declaring for the draft. “Nevertheless, they could not understand that I’m a Black man And I could never be a veteran.” This sentence is important because ” all men are created equal” according to the Declaration of Independence. So, why would he not receive recognition for fighting in a war as a born and raised American? Why would Mohamad Ali later go on talk shows and discuss going overseas during the Olympics and winning medals (for Team USA), only to come back to the States and still be expected to use the “colored” only facilities? Those are some of the questions that present themselves during conversations regarding civil liberties and the power particular identities have to experience the better of them.
Chuck D was very intentional with his lyrics, “Four of us in a cell like slaves, oh well the same mother*** got us living in his hell, you have to realize, what is a form of slavery. Even people in our society today consider our prison system a form of slavery. This song came out in 1988 during the intense(1980s) spike of the ” War on Drugs” era. The police were locking up black and brown boys for the smallest amounts of any illegible substances. As unfortunate as it sounds, prison labor is borderline free labor, and I believe this played into the prison boom. I found it purposeful to include that simile, comparing the men in the cell to slaves. I believe this puts into perspective how dehumanizing these experiences are for those marginalized groups. ” …well the same mother** got us living in his hell…”, speaks volumes for the reason that many Americans believe their voices aren’t being heard because whoever is in control would never want to endure what the “common folk” have to. His giving the unknown gender was significant, our society functions as a patriarchal society. Women do not have the power to exhort anything over a man. The system was not designed with us in mind to thrive in that manner. So we know for sure that a few of the identities that you would want to have to experience the a, American dream that is often prompted would at least undoubtedly consist of being a man, and not black, preferably someone with proximity to whiteness in some form.