T.I. is a musical genius. His creating Warzone is a perfect example of how black celebrities should be using their platform in this movement toward racial justice and equity.
The video begins with a mother (white) cutting potatoes as her son (white) leaves their home. As he steps out of the door and off the porch T.I.’s lyrics begin, “Can’t you see we’re living in a warzone?” The boy smiles as he walks down the street TI continues,”But you don’t notice when you’re living in it” and then the boy pulls a toy gun from underneath his shirt. As the boy enters the park with the toy gun and is shot dead by 2 black police officers viewers recognize the contrast and parallel between this scene and the death of Tamir Rice. In addition to Rice, T.I. also makes reference to the deaths of Philando Castile, Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, and the Charleston church shooting. Can we imagine black officers unjustly killing white Americans? In this video TI uses images of black officers and white victims acting out recent cases of police brutality in order to illustrate them as they would have occurred if the roles were reversed.
The song ends with a quote from Jane Elliot, a lecturer and diversity trainer that redirected her career to educating whites about racial oppression after the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. The quote leaves audiences to think about the state of race relations in America and white America’s role in maintaining white supremacist culture in the US.
Watch the official music video below.
