Black Lives Matter.

One more time for the people at the back, Black Lives Matter.

Last week I was unsure where it was I stood with regards to that statement, not because of any issue around what it meant because let’s not be dicks about it but BLACK LIVES MATTER! My stance and my issue around where I saw myself fell into something tied around the Samoan concept of tautua (serving or being in service to) & I have pulled this concept up quite a bit over the last few years. Generally, this discussion was framed around narratives focused on relational spaces and roles concerning my artistic community, cultural capital as a Samoan in the diaspora, and the wider intersectional connections created at different levels of Aotearoan society.

Last week Black Lives Matter, the movement, roared back into the spotlight and it roared so loud it drowned out the shrieking terror many of us faced as a result of the global pandemic that is Covid-19. Many of us considered minorities found ourselves joining as a part of a choir that sang a requiem to all of the black lives brutally taken, bought into sharp focus by the continued crushing of black bodies in America. For me, I didn’t know where to start when looking at the song sheet – I didn’t know what my role was and I wasn’t sure how I could serve this long-suffering community. Part of my mind whispered that as the son of Samoan migrants, we had our own issues to contend with, as a minority in Aotearoa we had our own issues to contend with, as someone that believes my role is to tautua to our Maori aiga – we had our own issues to deal with. All I felt was that we had our own issues to deal with and why would I add more to a plate already piling up with the shit 2020 was throwing at us?

Then I remembered something, I used to love hip-hop. I used to love everything about hip-hop, the first time I saw a couple of kids bopping at intermediate to Grandmaster Flash I was intrigued. Then in 1983 we saw Style Wars on TVNZ, channel 1 and that was it – this American artform was now embedded in the minds of brown kids from South Auckland and we took it and ran. Flash forward thirty years later and I was looking at it a whole other way, I wanted out, I wanted to try to reconnect and remember what it was that was my parents, their parents, and their parent's parents. I wanted to remember my heritage and I was becoming aware that this was connecting me to a methodology that helped me connect to so many of our Moana aiga and I found the sea and land of Moana Nui a Kiwa held more for me than the steel and concrete of the Bronx.

The irony here is that to get to this place, this foundation to build an understanding of how our diasporic Moana cultures evolve in Aotearoa I needed those formative years shaped by the cultures I had adopted. They weren’t mine to keep but they gave me an understanding of how to punch up - hip-hop and reggae showed me what it is to stand firm and stand strong. They weren’t perfect teachers but no one ever is and you have to understand and adapt when something you love has toxic elements. I have learned to adapt and understand the good and I filter out what does not work and this is the evolution of my practice – this methodology has come about in part from the revolution that is never-ending for African Americans. They have shown us the difference it makes to see our own succeed, they have been the most visible to any PoC kid wanting to see someone that looks just the smallest bit like them on the world stage in ANY of the arts.

Black Lives Matter.

I have to say that what has given me the greatest joy these past few days would be seeing my younger siblings step up and call out those that would love black culture but not black bodies. Both have been on the same journey as their older brothers and both have excelled in the elements of hip-hop they became expert at – the emcee and the dancer. Proud of you Mark and Tia.

“Crazy seeing some poly hip-hop and RnB artists not being sympathetic to the protests for black equality but are comfortable adopting their artforms. Straight culture vultures.” – Mareko.

Tautua – service. Given freely and offered with alofa.

Black Lives Matter.