May we always remember a time black and latino men loudly, obnoxiously, and passionately performed a rap about the Revolutionary War, freedom, and the American dream to the first black president, the first black first lady, and a White House room overflowing with fans. I hope I never forget the first minute of this video, where a Puerto Rican man from the projects of Bushwick, a biracial black Jewish man from Oakland, and a black man from New Jersey who was constantly in trouble in high school all loudly, joyously, and righteously cyphered a performance that’s in one of the whitest, most pretentious, classist, highest art forms of modern entertainment. I hope I never forget how comfortable these black and latino men were doing what we’ve all been raised to do best - code switch flawlessly, stitch cultures together seamlessly, combine linguistic and musical forms in innovate ways that the majority would normally scoff at, exist in opposing planes simultaneously and do it better than everyone else who thinks we don’t belong in the room. Here’s to Lin-Manuel for fearlessly writing what he knows and presenting it to the world and persevering, no matter how many people laughed in his face. Here’s to everyone in the original cast who believed in this idea and saw themselves in it. Here’s to Anthony, Daveed, and Oak beatboxing, uh-ing, and hype manning each other one second then flawlessly harmonizing to a show tune the next. Here’s to Lin for taking the time to know how to write both genres and loving them as equally as respectability politics and hood politics equally pull us and leave us looking for our actual, authentic selves in between. Here’s to finding unapologetic authenticity for people of color in the United States. I want to see this and remember this on Inauguration Day in January 2017 because I sadly know scenes like this won’t happen at the White House for many years. I want to remember a time when representation and authenticity weren’t just possible, but celebrated.
germansingergirl
theartofmadeline
izzy806
romaincrisis
