(The following post contains graphic language)
As an NBA All-Star, Damian Lillard has already participated in protests demanding change in Portland and around the country after the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and others due to police violence and racially-motivated attacks. He's also using his platform to discuss the issues roiling the country through one of his other passions: music.
In an emotional track posted to his Souncloud account Tuesday morning entitled "Blacklist," Lillard addresses racism and police brutality in no uncertain terms, coming out by making it very clear how he feels about racist before going into his thoughts and feelings about the current state of race in the United States. Lillard discusses looting and property damage as a result of historical inequity, policing your own and how that doesn't seem to work with regard to law enforcement, previous instances in which athletes used their stature to influence change and his thoughts on Donald Trump. It's a lot of pain and anger condensed into three minutes.
The understated piano that accompanies the track comes courtesy of Kev Choice. Below are the full lyrics...
As a brother with a good heart, I say “Fuck you” if you racistOr whites staying quiet, you disabling the changesAnd fuck being famous, tired of watching us complainingCops kill a brother, get released after arraignment
We in a pandemic, thought getting out I’d be more joyedThen I watched a cop knee to the neck kill George FloydThey hid behind the badge, we get to posting, it never lastsLike, was we ever mad? Speed up the process and do the dash
Showing up at every establishment breaking glassTaking all they high-end products and making cashWe in our bag, they getting mad, gotta attack the dollaBreak they ass off proper, hit dogs holla
As a rich black man living in this country, it’s hard being comfy When the hate your people get is coming from the ones amongst meUsed to call us "monkeys" and "slaves" and we overcameStill our work is just beginning, protests look like parades
And if a teammate of mine do underage, Imma snitchMe and you ain’t a fit, I ain’t gonna sit or convince myself I’m being loyalOr mad at you, so why these good cops won’t speak on the bad apples?
How the president get on TV and be mad casual? Like “If you looting we shooting” like it’s a gameDude’s a clown and a trust fund baby, he numb the painNever had it hard, came into office unpatched the scarsLet the racist folks tell us we really ain't make it far
I feel the tension rising, 1950 how we dividedI ain't even tripping on how the season decidedRacism pandemic is years ahead of the virusReally mean it but they going to try to play us as tyrants
Look, Ali wasn't the greatest just cause his hands workFrontline for his people, this was a man's workBefore he let the black people down he let the fans hurtSo if the stars is aligned, that mean it can work
Don't need approval, I've always been doing God's workEven before I was in the Bentley like FarnsworthMake me sick to my stomach to see these moms hurtTommy Smith fist in the air, that's what our bond worth
Support black businesses, got to fight evil We love ourselves, we don't hate white peopleWe just striving for equality, acknowledge me!Don't just kill me for chilling when in my property
Got some shit on my mind and I'm feeling helplessCause we need help from people who ain't dealt withThe kind of shit we experience, how we felt whenThe country turned on Kaepernick after he knelted
All the shit we endured and we still playing fairThat black skin really thicker than some Jamaican hairOur culture beautiful, battle-tested and toughWe've had enough, so either come with some change or it's gone be roughPeriod
As a brother with a good heart, I say “Fuck you” if you racistOr you white playing quiet, you disabling the changesFuck being famous, tired of watching us complainingCops kill a brother, get released after arraignment