Advice For Macklemore: Pass The Mic
Seattle rapper Macklemore is the latest in a long line of white liberals who chose to play the white savior role and speak for brown-skinned people instead of providing the platform for them to speak for themselves.
He’s neither the first nor the greatest – only the latest. We must resist that tendency and push white people who wish to be allies to – instead of attempting to speak for us – pass the mic and leverage their platforms to let us speak for ourselves.
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If he truly wishes to be an ally, he should put marginalized voices to the forefront instead of simply consulting with them and keeping the glory for his white-guilt epiphany to himself.
The next step in the evolution of the ally is to make the introduction, get off the stage and the let the stakeholders speak for themselves – for the stakeholder to become the subject and not the object.
Pass the mic.
Gyasi Ross (@bigindiangyasi) is a member of the Blackfeet Nation and the Suquamish Nation. He is also a lawyer and a filmmaker. He'll be on Week in Review (94.9 FM) at noon, Friday, Feb. 5.
