Social Justice and Macklemore

No Justice, No Peace In Z-Ro’s “No Justice No Peace,” the hip hop artist states, “No justice, no peace It's us against police. Every time I turn around they shoot another brother down.” The argument made by the artist is that police brutality and oppression is marginalizing African-Americans and making them fearful of the law—which to them represents white rule, white power, and white aggression.

The artist, like all hip hop artists, is coming from a traditional of criticism against Jim Crow: his descendents are men like Malcolm X and MLK, Jr., Ice Cube, and Tupac Shakur. Z-Ro’s words echo with all the history of those stories and more rolled into a monumental protest anthem. It is an anthem that many can understand. However, there is also a racial component to it that disqualified anyone who is not African-American from identifying with the song.

For instance, others who are white and who may be sympathetic to the message and might seek to support Z-Ro and the Black Lives Matter movement have to consider their own race and privilege, as Macklemore and Ryan Lewis do in their hip hop confessional “White Privilege II.” In that song, the white artists state, “It seems like we're more concerned with being called racist / Than we actually are with racism.” Each text defines justice in terms of social justice and therefore the theory of social justice is the one that best explains each.

Yet when one considers the texts from the standpoint of Rawls’ theory of distributive (social) justice, one sees a problem: the problem is that the “separate but equal” clause of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) is still essentially in effect in America, and therefore there can be no social justice.

The African American population can lament—but whites who have a guilt complex about appropriating the culture of blacks (as Macklemore does in White Privilege II) do a disservice to the issue by feeling that they must respect the lament and not be engaged in the problem. The Z-Ro song states upfront that the problem is a racist system and that African-Americans have no choice but to fight back, arm themselves and resist the oppressive system.

Macklemore states in his song that he wants to march with the African-Americans but because he is white he has a guilty conscience about his privilege. While the Z-Ro song is perfectly understandable and sympathetic (after all, men like Malcolm X made the same point and actually stood up to racism and the law to make a difference), the Macklemore song is more troublesome. Z-Ro is rapping for his own population but also for anyone—because the song is cultural at root; it goes out to the world.

Macklemore is rapping for himself: the song is introverted and self-reflexive. Macklemore is looking inward instead of outward because he feels “awkward” about being white like the police against whom his African-American friends are protesting and marching. Macklemore’s song is not sympathetic: it bespeaks of the confusion that political correctness places on the issues. Instead of feeling confident about going out and marching and supporting his friends and the community he loves and respects, he feels like he should shame himself for his privilege.

He robs himself of his own power to assist in the protest by doing this. As Edna Andrews notes, one of the things that political correctness set out to do is to focus on cultural sensitivity. Yet what it actually does is focus on surface sensitivity and thus does not actually promote cultural sensitivity. Z-Ro’s song is cultural and from a culturally sensitive standpoint one should be able to rally behind regardless of one’s color or creed.

Yet, Macklemore feels that he must step aside and watch from the sidelines with his mouth shut, as he states in White Privilege II, because he is not of the same color as Z-Ro and he himself is guilty of cultural appropriation.

In his song, he eventually reconciles himself (somewhat) with the confusing issue and settles on the concluding lines, “What I got for me, it is for me / What we made, we made to set us free.” There is a sort of acceptance of the problematic situation he finds himself in and a transcendence of the racial issue that he feels keeps him separate from his black friends.

He transitions back to the “we” that he questions earlier in the song and embraces it this time without feeling panicked or privileged. It is an acceptance and embrace of the common humanity that he finds in the anthem of Z-Ro and all the other hip-hop artists he has always admired. It is an important reconciliation that Macklemore performs at the end because it shows how social justice has to be social—not individual.

The individualistic, inward-looking, introverted, self-centered focus of the politically correct school of thought is white allows the focus on privilege to distract from the issue of justice. Privilege is rooted in envy, but justice is rooted in respect for the ideal. This is the point that Morris Holbrook makes when he defines the movement within culture as “the ‘New Victorianism’ (aka Political Correctness)” (130). It is a puritanical concept that seeks to ostracize and condemn rather than to rally and unite.

Social justice in its essence, according to Rawls, is about rallying and uniting for the purpose of supporting all in pursuit of the common good. It is about finding commonalities—not about isolating over differences. Emphasizing on white privilege, as Macklemore does, prevents him from engaging—and that is what he realizes at the end of the song. In Z-Ro’s song, there is no such confusion or internal strife to be worked through because he is already engaged with the issue and is taking a stand.

This is partly because he is of the population being marginalized and oppressed (African-Americans) and partly because he is able to recognize the need to get engaged, to rally and to unite as one. The challenge he lays down is this: “Swear to god I'm so sick of this shit, I'ma protect me and my people / You must be a fool if you think I ain't dumping” (Z-Ro). It is Z-Ro stating his case plainly and without any shame or guilt.

He is not white and has not had his feelings politicized by the PC police—so he can affirm his intentions boldly, proudly and without fear. As Derrick Alridge points out, it is a mental slavery that hip hop liberates its artists and audiences from. It is freedom from mental slavery that Macklemore eventually sings about at the end of his song. White Privilege thus becomes the other side of the coin of racism.

If racism by white police oppresses the African American population, obsession over white privilege oppresses the white population. Macklemore wants to support and should support his African-American friends—and he should not feel shame about it. The shame he feels comes from a kind of mental slavery enforced by the PC culture that acts as the New Victorianism—a racist form of Puritanism.

In conclusion, both the songs by Z-Ro and Macklemore have to be interpreted from the theory of social justice—but they also must be analyzed from the standpoint of political correctness. Z-Ro is able to affirm a stance and act on it in his song because he is engaged with the issue. Macklemore wants to be engaged but is hung up on the PC shame he feels because of his skin color.

This should not prevent him from advocating, and he realizes as much by the end of the song. Z-Ro calls for action, and Macklemore echoes the call in the face of the PC pressure to sit this one out because of his privilege and whiteness. At the end of the day, it is about brotherhood rooted and fostered by culture—not by race. Summary This paper looks at “No Justice No Peace” by Z-Ro and “White Privilege II” by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.

Both artists are celebrated in the hip hop world but Z-Ro is African-American while Macklemore and Ryan Lewis are white. Z-Ro’s song is about standing up to racism and oppression from the police and he sings it from a personal point of view by the song is an anthem and a rally cry for others to stand up and join in with him—i.e., there will be no peace in society until there is justice.

Macklemore begins his song by singing about how he wants to join in with his African-American friends but as soon as gets there he feels awkward because he is.