![]() In spite of the fact white people are more likely to deal drugs, black people are more likely to get arrested for it. Tupac was well aware of this, which he highlighted in "Changes," when he said, Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me. It's also one of the driving factors of mass incarceration ( 21 percent of incarcerated individuals are there for drug offenses), and a large reason why we continue to see so many minorities arrested and imprisoned. The War on Drugs, which largely began under President Richard Nixon, has been a massive and expensive failure. War on Drugs Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me. It's worth noting violent crime has decreased drastically in the US since the 1980s, but we clearly still have room for improvement. Not to mention, in 2015, over 13,000 people were killed by gun violence in the US. With over 3,000 people shot in Chicago so far this year and America's ongoing involvement in the devastating war in Syria, as well as its continued activities in Iraq and Afghanistan, we still have "war on the streets and the war in the Middle East." This line is painfully pertinent in the present day. It's war on the streets and the war in the Middle East. In "Changes," he said, Can't a brother get a little peace. The US is a violent country, and Tupac didn't hold back on this topic. Violence It's war on the streets and the war in the Middle East. Indeed, America's criminal justice system is broken, and it's had an especially detrimental impact on minorities. Today, black people are incarcerated at nearly six times the rate of whites and nearly one million of the 2.3 million locked up are black, according to the NAACP. With around 2.3 million people behind bars, the US has the highest incarceration rate in the world.Ī disproportionate number of incarcerated individuals are minorities. One of the most disturbingly timeless lines of Tupac's "Changes" says, The penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks. ![]() Mass Incarceration The penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks. You also don't have to look much further than this country's criminal justice system, among other social and political issues, to realize the legacies of Jim Crow and slavery are still alive and well. Moreover, in 2015, the number of hate groups in the US grew by 14 percent, from 784 in 2014 to 892 in 2015, according to the SPLC. The second leading motivators, sexual orientation and religion, each accounted for approximately 19 percent of hate crimes - nowhere near the percentage of motivated by race. For example, in 2014, 47 percent of hate crimes were motivated by it, according to data from the FBI. Hate crimes are still motivated by race more than any other factor. ![]() Sadly, the numbers continue to prove him right in 2016. Tupac clearly didn't agree with that perception. However, a lot of people would like to believe we've moved past all of that and now live in a post-racial society. It's not exactly a secret this country has a long history of racism and discrimination. In "Changes," Tupac directly addressed the blatant racism he saw in America. Black people have been killed by US police in 2016 at more than two times the rate of whites, in spite of making up just 13 percent of the population. So far this year, US police have killed 758 people, including 187 black people, according to The Counted. In 2016, this line continues to be far too relevant. He's clearly referencing the issue of police brutality, and the unfortunate fact US police are more likely to use lethal force against minorities. Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he's a hero. In one of the opening lines of the song, Tupac says, Cops give a damn about a negro. Police brutality Cops give a damn about a negro. ![]() Two decades after his death, the lyrics of the song remain unsettlingly relevant, touching on themes we continue to contend with in the present day.
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