• Lost Ones- Lauryn Hill : When thinking of pop culture, my mind immediately jumped to music. Lauryn Hill is a R&B and Hip-hop artist who revolutionized both genres through powerful lyrics and wisdom she shares in her songs. Her debut and only solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is popular to this day for its lyrics, rhythm and acknowledgement of the realities Black people face living in America. The song Lost Ones specifically highlights the discrimination Black Americans face through economic status and institutions.

The most powerful lyrics are spread throughout the entire song. Two in particular were the most significant to me, “My emancipation don’t fit your equation” and “Wisdom is better than silver and gold, I was hopeless now I’m on hope road”. Bringing up the disconnect Black people faced then and currently when searching for success or even just to survive, especially as a Black woman in the 1990’s required courage that many lacked. Her art still resonates with people all over the world today. Not many musicians are as talented and inspiring as Lauryn Hill

• IC3PEAK- Russian experimental musicians, Anastasia Kreslina and Nikolay Kostylyov created the duo ‘IC3PEAK’ in 2015. Their music can be described as alternative, witch-house or dream like music with controversial opinions about life and Russian institutions. I wanted to talk about this duo because of the discrimination they face does not often happen so explicitly in America. Censorship in other countries is often used to hide radical or controversial opinions deemed by the government and is prevented from airing in media. It often hides the realities citizens are facing and paints a facade of a perfect nation. After IC3PEAK’s release of their album СКАЗКА (Fairytale) in 2018 they faced public scrutinization and critique from the public for their radical opinions about the government. Specifically the song on the album, Смерти Больше Нет (Death No More) and its music video was the final straw. The music video shows both Anastasia and Nikolay standing in front of a Russian government building, dousing herself in kerosene while Nikolay holds a match shouting “Let it all burn!”. Featuring other images of activities that Russia would find inappropriate, Russian police prevented them from going on tour and held them in custody. They currently are only allowed to tour abroad.

Oppression and discrimination look very different from each other when analyzing the cultures of different countries. The government stopping IC3PEAK’s tour shows the current social tensions and divide of the people with how their country is functioning. The current generation is seeking for change and I hope they get the freedom to send whatever message they want without fear.

• Connor McGregor v. Floyd Mayweather: Microagressions in media and sports is not uncommon in American pop culture. Boxing and Ultimate Fighting are not the most popular sports broadcasted in America, but one fight in particular got the attention of people who did not even consider themselves fans of boxing, Connor McGregor versus Floyd Mayweather. The two fighters had an intense rivalry bolstered through the media and social networks. Everyone began to talk about it and tensions were rising to see the fight. The fighters often would have banter to help excite the audience, sometimes it can be harsh or insensitive. McGregor had made a couple racially insensitive statements about Mayweather, telling him to “dance for me boy!” a term used for centuries to reduce Black people into someone of less significance. He also explained that he was “Half black from the belly-button down”

Whatever his intention was, to build drama and excitement or if he actually meant the words he said, McGregor is an influence to many young people across the world. Seeing someone you admire normalize rude and intolerant behavior and language creates the false sense you can treat other peers like this too. The smallest things often have influence over us when we are young, and the media is one of the largest institution to do so.

• New Yorker Cartoon: Political cartoons can give artists/ journalists the opportunity to voice their opinions that could have sparked too much controversy or they felt too timid to share them. This cartoon depicts Little Red Riding Hood at her grandma’s house. Instead of the common story with the Wolf as her grandma in bed, the Wolf is wearing and All Lives Matter T-shirt. At the bottom was the caption “Gee grandma, what a blind eye for institutionalized racism you have!”. I thought a cartoon like this was relevant because it is a funny take on a serious situation. Laughter often relieves tension and although it appeals more to the left side of the political spectrum, it is important to be able to lighten the mood when possible.

Institutionalized racism is often hard to notice because of how subtly it works its way into our lives. The All Lives Matter movement was created to discredit Black Lives Matter and reduce their motives as being over dramatic and only considerate of Black people. In reality the movement was created to shine light on the disproportionate amount of incarcerated and murdered by police unfairly.

• Cal Poly Fraternity: After backlash for a controversial picture taken during a party, a fraternity at California Polytechnic State University: San Los Obispos received punishment for dressing up in ‘cholo’ and gang inspired styled costumes. There were many varying opinions on them, but it is important to understand the weight it has on the people who dress like this every day. To them it is not a costume to poke fun at, it is apart of their own culture and their upbringing. White people tend to see people dressed like this or other styles (dreadlocks, box braids, Chinese/ Japanese tattoos) and wonder why they cannot be included. The problem lies within the fact that these people in the fraternity get to take off the ‘costume’ they were wearing, while people who are Latinx will continue to be seen as threatening, dangerous and a ‘gangster’. Culture is not a costume and everyone, not just white people should understand this. If you are actually interested in learning about a culture that is or is not your own there’s no problem in properly educating yourself to do so. Taking a sharpie to draw on face tattoos, wearing baggy denim and putting foil in your mouth to make a grill is just ignorant and shows the lack of care the fraternity demonstrated.

While the fraternity does not directly qualify as pop culture, the context in which they dressed comes from both accurate depictions of Latino culture and also negative stereotypical depictions. This happens across all cultures in media, characters like Uncle Remus, Long Duck Dong from Sixteen Candles, or Sofia Vergara from Modern Family give inaccurate representations of people of different cultures and backgrounds.