Joyner Lucas made one hell of a comparison while defending Chris Brown on his Instagram story today. Clearly, his impassioned defense of the admittedly talented, but morally flawed singer also made an impression, as Brown reposted the rant to his own Instagram with a selection of gratitude-expressing emojis.
However, while it’s one thing to hope fans recognize the obvious talents of an artist, it’s a whole different thing to compare that artist to a civil rights figure who was willing to risk his life (and lose it) in a fight for justice for his people.
Chris Brown is nothing like Malcolm X, as Lucas opines in the ardent tirade posted to his social media. Malcolm X was a flawed human who started out his life on the wrong side of the law, yes, but his notoriety and name-recognition comes more from the fact that he spoke eloquently on behalf of downtrodden and oppressed Americans to receive the same rights and protections under law as their fellow citizens. Chris Brown sings and dances well. Those are not the same.
Furthermore, while Malcolm X, later renamed el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz after a pilgrimage to Mecca deepened his Muslim faith and understanding, dedicated his life to making up for his past mistakes, Chris Brown still has yet to show more genuine contrition for his acts of violence against onetime girlfriend Rihanna than shed a few crocodile tears during an awards show performance.
He still demonstrates reprehensible attitudes toward women in both his music and his online and public behavior, yet the supposed “hate” against him never seems to affect the seemingly endless list of urban artists lining up to collaborate with him or fans willing to give him money to watch him gyrate on stage.
No one should expect Joyner Lucas to necessarily be an expert in racial politics — his controversial “I’m Not Racist” video more or less confirms that he isn’t — but this particular comparison doesn’t really help his case. It just highlights how much work Chris Brown will have to do before anyone is willing to overlook his indiscretions — and how far we have to go as a society before women are protected and domestic abuse is taken seriously by both the law and the average citizen.
