Now Playing: The Roots’ “I Am A Slave”
With what turned out to be an especially eventful Juneteenth just behind us, we find it’s still on our minds — both because what Juneteenth is all about has been so poignant and pointed right now, but also because the miasma of recent events somehow feels simultaneously intractable, revolutionary, and historical. It’s as if we are currently living in past America, present America and future America all at once.
Three years ago, The Roots did a “Schoolhouse Rock”-style song and animated clip for ABC’s Black-ish called “I Am A Slave.” You may not have caught it at the time, but guess what: It’s still news. Against a pitch-perfect spoof of the Saturday morning classics, the track packs in more education about the history of race in America (and specifically, the circumstances surrounding Juneteenth) than most adult Americans received in their entire school career. And wow, it has bite. There’s something in the blithe and glib delivery of both the music and the (excellent) lyrics that makes the song worm its way right under you, and not in a way that would ever be described as comfortable. As an exercise in uneasy listening, it’s a complete success; as an earworm, even more so. It’d be weird to say you like it, but damned if we’re not all living it.
