1. I’m Not Racist – Joyner Lucas

2. I’m Not Racist – Joyner Lucas
Due to its relevance, we’re going to discuss this song/music video today.
Yes, it’s vulgar. Be respectful.

3. I’m Not Racist – Joyner Lucas
Why has this video gone so viral since it came out?
What message does this video send?
Why choose these two men as representatives of their race?

4. CNN states that this song brings up a “brutal race conversation nobody wants to have” – do you agree or disagree?
How do we start to have these brutal conversations? Is it even possible to have these conversations

5. An article was published that highlights one person’s beliefs on the “problems” that exist in this song/music video. What do you make of these?

6. Problem 1
“Neither of these men are racist. They just need—and want—to understand each other better.”
Given how the video ends, is this a valid conclusion? Are either of these men racist?

7. Problem 2
“The black guy’s rebuttal is weak… [it’s more] ‘Racism is why I do these bad things’ and not ‘Actually, most of us don’t do those bad things you think we all do.’”
Do you agree or disagree? Why?

8. This person then goes on to say that the video “shouldn’t even exist.”
“The concept… is based on a faulty premise [that] white people’s race-related gripes and black people’s race-related gripes are equal – equally justified and deserving of equal time and attention. They are not.”
“The only conversation that can [create some measure of truce and racial conciliation] is white people talking to other white people to try to find a way to be less awful to black people

9. “Let me put it this way: …
“… How offensive and absurd would it be if, instead of a black person and a white person having this conversation, it was a Jewish person and a Nazi?”
This analogy “works because no one in their right mind would dare do something like that”
Goes on to say that people give the Holocaust the respect it deserves, but America doesn’t give the centuries-long trans- Atlantic slave trade the same acknowledgement

10. Writer’s Notebook Entries:
Write a verse in response
Add a verse that would go at the end of the song
Reflect on class discussion today
Read other internet sources about the song and reflect
Pick out specific lyrics or lines that speak to you and respond