Boots Riley - Black History Month Lecture

I attended a recent lecture given by activist and musician Boots Riley in conjunction with Black History Month. I was aware of Boots as a musician/rapper, and most recently as a collaborator with Tom Morello, though I also learned he is a film producer, as well. While I don’t recall the message of his most recent music soundtrack(s) I thought it would be interesting to hear what an artist like Boots Riley had to talk about. The engagement began with Riley preaching some spoken-word poetry.

During his speech Riley did speak a lot about politics and social relationships and I found it to be rather informative, though he did use a lot of political jargon that makes one realize why some fear others getting a college education: because they would be a nonstop stream of politics. But for this talk the speaker was only intermittent with political jargon.

Some modern issues Riley touched on were those such as the need for spaces to organize.  He asked, maybe rhetorically, when people would actually strike or protest in solidarity. That may be hard to do when people of today are widely segmented in an era of tribalism under the guise of so-called equality and equity. One interesting thing about Riley is the fact that he reflects leadership and (familial?) mentoring which he spoke of. I began to think of the common conundrum of masses without decent leaders. What is the ratio of Boots Rileys to the population at large? What is the ratio of Boots Rileys to the black population?

I tend to wonder about rap music and the influence it has on certain audiences with such criminal and detrimental messages. Well, according to Riley, a lot of rap music serves as “manuals for survival”, with the lyrics being instructional. He says that often a rap musician talks about the realities that audiences are able to see in their own neighborhoods, and therefore feel a connection to the words and ways they hear about. The music transmits culture. This was not totally a “aha!” moment since some parents do actually advise their children on cultural contradictions and abusive behaviors, but it was well worth it to get some perspective on where people see themselves reflected. That’s a whole ‘nother topic, by-the-way.

Toward the end of his speech Riley mentioned the California Nurses Association -CNA (Oaklanders) and their influence/push on social justice. This was another instance of someone mentioning social justice, which seems to be a trendy topic that I frequently hear in news highlights and read in print. When I went to lookup the term it was described in regard to wealth distribution. The nurses may have some good ideas, but from the way “$ocial justice” is name dropped it won’t be long before the idea is perverted by tribali$ts.