Activism

T.I.’s New Video Flips The Script, Showing White Victims Being Killed By Black Police Officers

Seeing videos of Black people being gun downed and killed by police officers has become so prevalent this year that some feel that they are starting to feel an almost numbing pain to the constant stories of police brutality. But T.I. has flipped the script and has created a video that shows racist police brutality in a whole new light.

In his new video for the song “Warzone”, the Atlanta rapper shows reenactments of the killings of Tamir Rice, Eric Garner and Philando Castile, and changes it so that the victims are white and the officers are African-American. By doing this, the video makes the viewer contemplate and assess how they view black and white death in a whole new way.

T.I. told NBCBlK, that ‘Warzone” is a direct response to those who chant “All Lives Matter.”

At the end of the video you hear the voice of activist Jane Elliot stating, “If you white folks want to be treated the way blacks are in this society – stand! Nobody is standing here. That says very plainly that you know what’s happening. You know you don’t want it for you. I want to know why you are so willing to accept it or to allow it to happen for others.”

T.I. – Warzone Lyrics

[Hook]
Can’t you see we livin’ in a war zone?
Guess you don’t notice when you livin’ in it
Like every weekend it’s a man down
Ain’t got no pity for the innocent so I’ma represent it
Dedicated, tell ’em,”Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe
Hands up, can’t breathe”
Hands up, can’t you see we livin’ in a war zone?

[Verse 1]
They left his body hangin’ down in Piedmont
At a Klan rally the day before, but that ain’t mean nothing
Witness said suicide, I said genocide
Hey what you got a gun for? Boy you ain’t finna ride
They run up on you like Baton Rouge, bet you finna hide
That’s the difference ‘tween us, I’ll die to save a million lives
Appointed leader when nobody couldn’t think of shit
I’ll be a martyr if my great grandaughter benefit
They pull you over, ask you where your license at
Be careful reachin’ for it, you know you can die for that
And this ain’t nothin’ new, just got cameras so you can see the shit
Got Dr. King and Abe Lincoln askin’ where the freedom at
This ain’t no equality
Man you ain’t have no justice on your mind when you shot at me
But fuck it, this the way it gotta be
Hey listen, you won’t shoot at them then shoot at me?
Boy you are not a G
Imagine Trayvon askin’ why you followed me
Feel threatened, hit him and whip him, that’s when he shot him down
Do that to a grown fuckin’ man, drop where you stand
Tell my grandma go on with all that prayin’
If it’s a God and he in the sky, he looking down, he understand
I’m just a man, and I’m wrong for revenge
But I don’t get ’em it’s like tellin’ him to gon’ kill again
Keep fucking around, it’s going to be on in a minute

[Verse 2]
This goes to the white boy that ran in the old church
I hope you get slow murked, and they torture you slow first
Ran in our place of worship to slaughter our grandma
Won’t go kamikaze for that, well what would you die for?
Hold up… I’ll wait, I’ll wait
Heard it from buddy who took for the fall for Watergate
The war on drugs was just a war on us
Give us all these guns, give us all this dust
Change all them laws, lock all of us up
Went from Freeway Ricky, on to BMF (free Meech)
Then hip hop came, that’s when we got rich
Cause white kids gravitated to it like all of us did
And that’s when they got slick
Invented the technology to take our shit
Diluted all of the artistry
Pardon me, somebody tell me what happened to Alton
Sterling, killed Philando right in front of the girl
And the world saw
Everybody’s reaction was, “Hell naw”
This modern day slavery, the prison publicly traded
And the jig’s up
The Constitution and Emancipation Proclamation’s just a fuckin’ piece of paper