Theology of 'Alright'

"An ongoing tension between many communities of faith and activists is the ability to connect theology with reality. Many clergy leaders ignore the work of establishing concrete hope in our present realities, foregoing practical hope for pearly gates. However, Kendrick Lamar's Alright demonstrates how downtrodden people can have hope in a world of violence, tragedy and death.

...

Even in the crux of this chaos, Kendrick Lamar does not turn to despair, but he says:

Alls my life I has to fight, n***a
Alls my life I...
Hard times like, "God!"
Bad trips like, "Yea!"
Nazareth, I'm f*****d up
Homie you f*****d up
But if God got us
Then we gon' be alright

While these words were spoken (at 2:54 in the video), it appeared that Lamar's dangling legs and boots mirrored the lifeless legs of lynched victims in the Jim Crow era. When the video continued, I realized that the legs that appeared to be hanging like strange fruit from a lynching tree were not hanging, but levitating.

Seeing Kendrick Lamar fly across the sky like a super hero was the climax of the video. Like Jesus walking on the waters of stormy seas, Kendrick Lamar soared above the prince of the power of the air.

But what does it mean for Kendrick Lamar to fly so high when people of color are buried so low in our society? For me, it is an affirmation of the freedom to be superhuman. It is analogous to the affirmation that Black Lives Matter.

In the gospel of Jesus, the resurrection is powerful because it demonstrates God's power over the Roman Empire's power that was sustained by subjugation and violence. Although the Roman Empire could exert its power through killing criminals, there was nothing they could do about a criminal being raised from the dead. This same power appears to propel Kendrick Lamar above the present subjugation and violence in our world."

Read full article here