Frank Ocean Tumblr essays come out about as often as Frank Ocean albums — okay, maybe a little more frequently — and pack nearly as much of a punch. The latest post from the Channel Orange creator tackles religious homophobia and the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando.
Via the post:
“I read in the paper that my brothers are being thrown from rooftops blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs for violating sharia law. I heard the crowds stone these fallen men if they move after they hit the ground. I heard it’s in the name of God. I heard my pastor speak for God too, quoting scripture from his book. Words like abomination popped off my skin like hot grease as he went on to describe a lake of fire that God wanted me in. I heard on the news that the aftermath of a hate crime left piles of bodies on a dance floor this month. I heard the gunman feigned dead among all the people he killed. I heard the news say he was one of us.”
Ocean goes on to describe an instance of transphobia that he went through with his father at a young age and briefly touches both on the struggle for marriage equality and the recent bathroom bills that have popped up around the United States. He ends the piece by saying he’s spoken to God directly and found that he doesn’t hate him, before not-so-subtly wondering if religious bigots are hearing the voice of Satan.
“We are all God’s children, I heard. I left my siblings out of it and spoke with my maker directly and I think he sounds a lot like myself,” he wrote. “I’m scared to know but I wanna know what everyone hears when they talk to God. Do the insane hear the voice distorted? Do the indoctrinated hear another voice entirely?”
Could this post be a preview of themes we might find on his long-awaited follow-up album? Who knows? But either way, it’s a powerful addition to the chorus of statements against homophobia that have rang out since the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
