
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.  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, do not accurately portray our nation. I believe that they do not accurately represent our country as a whole.  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.   T.I. takes the side of African Americans in this video through the use of meaningful lyrics, blunt visuals and role reversal.  However, through those means he does not depict the relations between white and black people in America.  

T.I. uses role reversal throughout the entire video, using white actors to portray famous police deaths in the recent past.  For example, the opening scene portrays shows a young white boy who is carrying around an airsoft gun in a park.  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 Tamir Rice, a twelve year old who was killed by police for having an airsoft gun in a park. Trayvon martin, a seventeen year old kid who was killed because he was black and the shooter believed he had a gun.  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.  It is an approach that allows for discussion and interpretation from the viewers, making them think what would happen if the roles were reversed.  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, African-Americans and white people are equal now with the same rights applying to both groups. if you look at statistics there is a lot more white people killed by policemen every year.  However, the difference is that white people do not blame these killings on policemen and riot, they peacefully protest if they voice their opinions.  T.I. was trying to spark emotion with this video, especially 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.  However, w 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.  Although figurative lyrics, they still trike the audience as shocking, causing them to side with the African-American community.  T.I. merely used 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 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. That was the reason behind the policeman’s decision to fire his weapon, which most arguments against the policeman fail to mention.  I feel as though T.I. overreacted to both the 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 the police and government seem worse than they really are.  You can see this statement against the government when 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 a whole group of people 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 policemen and women as a whole.  The white community, who is the majority in America, is not the problem to be blamed 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  white people, especially the police force are, 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 the victims were 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 the white community is not at blame in these situations.
