The music video, “Warzone” by T.I. takes a stance on police brutality that has been happening over the past year. The lyrics as well as the accompanying visuals depict the story of the inequality that is found between white and blacks in America. T.I. set out to show how the American public sweeps the problem under the rug and will not admit that there is inequality in the country. good. He uses three different deaths of innocent black males who have been killed by the police in the last year: Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner and Philando Castile. These three deaths are highly publicized and have led to many debates, however, I believe that they do not accurately represent our country as a whole. no first person! just say – 'they do not" – take a stand! Also, in my opinion, this video is highly biased and does not show policemen and women in the correct light. T.I. depicts those deaths in his video, but uses white actors being killed to show a reversal in the “norms” of society and I believe that he does not show the full story of race in America. Do you analyze anything other than the historical allegory he uses? If so, you must state in your thesis how you will arrive at your interpretation.

The opening scene portrays a young white boy who is carrying around an airsoft gun in a park. use a topic sentence before diving into visual description. Then, policemen show up, hop out of the car and shoot him, believing that he is a threat. . This story that is portrayed in the scene is meant to reenact the shooting death of Trayvon martin, a seventeen year old kid who was killed because he was black and the shooter believed he had a gun. This scene is not allegorical to Martin, but Tamir Rice. The use of a white kid being killed is make viewers question what the world would be like if it were white people that were discriminated against. Although T.I. used this technique well to bring questions upon viewers, I believe that he is unfairly portraying America. We are not a country that discriminates against African-Americans in this day and age, if you look at statistics there is a lot more white people killed by policemen every year. Stick to the text rather than statistics at this point – you can bring in the outside world in the conclusion. However, the difference is that white people do not blame these killings on policemen and riot, they peacefully protest if they voice their opinions. this is now a political argument and not an english argument. T.I. was trying to spark emotion when showing the white child getting killed, however, I believe that he overdid it. The viewer sees that when T.I. says, “Imagine Trayvon askin' why you followed me. Feel threatened, hit him and whip him, that’s when he shot him down.” (“Warzone”) That quote shows how T.I. feels about the death of an innocent black kid. How? analyze. However, when I see that quote I believe that it makes the situation sound worse than it actually was. In the quote T.I. says that Trayvon was hit and whipped, however, Trayvon Martin was never hit or whipped, he was shot to death. Are these lyrics literal or figurative? You must state which stance you are taking before arriving at this analysis. T.I. said those words to make the situation sound even worse than it actually was, like the police tortured him before killing him. These lyrics try to make policemen sound like monsters who have no feelings for African-Americans. Another scene in the video shows a man shot to death while his girlfriend is in the passenger’s seat taking a video. this should be a new paragraph. This scene represents the shooting death of Philando Castile, a man who was killed in Minnesota a month ago with his girlfriend and baby in the car. In the video T.I. says, “Killed Philando right in front of the girl. And the world saw.” (“Warzone”) In this quote T.I. talks about the death and how the police are bad people for killing this innocent man right in front of his girlfriend. Hearing that makes the policemen sound like savages, taking someone’s life and making his loved ones watch. However, I believe that T.I. tried to make the police sound like bad people, when in reality, the policeman was only trying to make sure that he was safe, because what T.I. did not mention is that Castile had a gun in his pocket. I feel as though T.I. overreacted to both situations and tried to make them seem worse than it really was and shine a bad light upon the police.

Also, the next scene was a depiction of Eric Garner’s death, a New York man who was choked to death by the police for selling cigarettes illegally. In the video taken of Garner being choked to death by the police, you can hear him saying, “I can’t breathe” multiple times and the police still did not stop. T.I. decided to include this visual of a tight shot of a man’s face saying that infamous phrase “I can’t breathe” to show the severity of the death. Although the choking of this unarmed man was not necessary and totally overstepped the boundaries of police duty, I believe that T.I. once again tried to make America seem worse than it really is. If you believe the message is about the entirety of America, you must show why. This scene that you use is only about two human beings in a single interaction, so the analysis should be about these people and not all of america. If there is something else I need to look at, show me. T.I. says, “The Constitution and Emancipation Proclamation’s just a piece of fuckin’ paper.” (“Warzone”) That quote shows how T.I. feels about the American government and America in general. T.I. believes that the majority of people in America, white people, dislike African-Americans in this country and discriminate against them. However, I feel that T.I. is wrong in singling out the whole country as being racist towards black people. Not everyone in this country is racist and no one in America believes that the deaths of unarmed black men and children is right, therefore I believe T.I. is wrong for going after America as a whole. America is not the problem in the Black Lives Matter movement, it is the few policemen that acted in a wrong fashion when dealing with the situation at hand.

“Warzone” By T.I. was a video that the artist tried to bring the racism and injustice in this country into the spotlight. He set out to show how racist America is as a country, however, I believe that that statement is false. America is not racist and the deaths of African Americans at the hands of the police do not need to be as highly publicized as they were. I believe that black people are going at this problem all wrong, they start riots and throw blame onto the police and America. However, most of the time black people are killed by the police for a good reason or because the police feel that their safety is in jeopardy. T.I.’s music video does a good job of bringing this topic into the public view more, however, it is putting the blame on policemen as a whole and America, when it is not every policeman’s fault and America is not at blame in these situations.
