Our society is embedded in media and opinions constantly being expressed in the media. Unless you have been living off the grid for the last couple of years, you have more than likely read an opinion or two on the Black Lives Matter movement. Regardless of the side in which your opinions tend to sway, you can’t NOT respect the power of social media in the Black Lives Matter movement. I include myself in this total admiration for the power of the people and their words during this movement. Whether it was a mass post of resources on Tumblr, or opinions on Twitter, I tried my hardest to follow the best that I could this past summer as well as the summer of 2015.
Recently, the twentieth anniversary of Tupac’s death happened and was memorialized. All conspiracy theories aside, Tupac was (and still is) a respected poet and activist for black communities. Growing up, my sister was infatuated with all things Tupac. She owns all of his CDs, several shirts, and a DVD entitled "Tupac Resurrection," which is a documentary of sorts that celebrates the life of Tupac. So, of course, some of this interest in Tupac rubbed off on me over time. This past year, when I was watching "Tupac Resurrection" with my sister, I could not help but notice the way Tupac carried himself was similar to the way a lot of leaders in the Black Lives Matter movement carry themselves.
Tupac Shakur was the son of a Black Panther, who found herself unrightfully arrested when she was five months pregnant. Not only was her presence a symbol of activism in their family, but Tupac was a mover and a shaker by his own means with the movement of “Thug Life.” Thug Life is a concept that carries such a negative connotation, simply because misinformation or interpretation of this mid-90s phenomenon. “I have all the underdogs on my side,” Tupac states at one point about his fans and followers of the Thug Life movement. “To me, Thug Life is pride. Not someone who breaks laws. It means to me, that even if someone has nothing, has nothing to come home to, they can still hold their head up high.”
Fast forward to summer of 2015, over twenty years after Thug Life started, and the phenomenon of the Black Lives Matter movement rises on the streets of many cities as well as the media. I watched a video recently where an interviewer asked random people on the streets of Washington DC what Black Lives Matter meant to them. One response in particular struck me when watching this video. A young black man responds with, “First, we are all human. Once we understand that we are all human, we gain respect for another.”
So despite all the hype in the media, both then and now, both of these movements have one essential value: respect for one another and for ourselves. Tupac wanted to give a voice to the poor black community, to show the world the greatness they carry within themselves. Black Lives Matter wants to give a voice to the people who have felt silent for a long time. All opinions aside, that is something anyone can respect: giving others hope for their future.
