Last Wednesday, the youth-focused US news website Mic.com posted a video to Facebook that quickly clocked up more than 10 million views.
Titled 23 Ways You Could Be Killed If You Are Black in America, the film features singers Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, Bono, Pharrell Williams, Rihanna and many others. No one sings or performs in the stark, black-and-white video. Instead, the stars flatly state the circumstances and reasons, many of them shockingly innocuous, surrounding the shootings of African-Americans by law-enforcement officers in the United States.
“Walking home with a friend,” says R&B singer Janelle Monáe, before we see a photo of Greg Gunn, who was killed in February in Montgomery, Alabama.
“Calling for help after an accident,” says rapper ASAP Rocky.
“Walking away from police,” says Common.
“Walking toward police,” says Queen Latifah.
The timing of the release of the video was no accident – July 13 marked the third anniversary of the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the neighbourhood-watch coordinator who shot and killed 17-year-old high-school student Trayvon Martin – another casualty the video pays tribute to – at a gated community in Sanford, Florida.
Zimmerman’s acquittal was also a factor in the coining of the #BlackLivesMatter (BLM) hashtag on social media, and the subsequent, increasingly high-profile activist movement of the same name, which was founded by black community workers Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi in the summer of 2013.
BLM has raised public awareness through staged “die-ins” – at which participants lie prostrate in public spaces – and hundreds of protests and marches across the US.
The role of popular musicians and other celebrities in the promotion of BLM has become more prominent of late.
Kendrick Lamar's Alright, the 2015 song he described as a "chant of hope", has become the key anthem of the movement. Protesters can be heard singing its quirky and hooky chorus ("Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon' be all right") en masse at demonstrations.
As well as the evocative lyrics and Lamar’s electrifying performance, the track’s power derives from producer Pharrell Williams’s rich and extraordinarily inventive arrangements. The accompanying video was a further talking point: Lamar raps on top of a trashed police car covered in graffiti.
‘Silence is our enemy’
Monáe aligned herself with BLM fairly early on. She took part in one of the movement's marches in Philadelphia in August last year, and led fellow artists from her Wondaland Records label on the protest single Hell You Talmbout that same month.
A decidedly Afrocentric call-and-response affair, the song, available on the Wondaland Records SoundCloud account, shouts the names of black victims of shootings by police officers.
“We recorded it to challenge the indifference, disregard and negligence of all who remain quiet about this issue,” Monáe wrote in an Instagram post.
“Silence is our enemy. Sound is our weapon.”
Beyoncé weighs in
Much more visible, though, is Beyoncé's latest album Lemonade, which was launched on Tidal, the streaming service she co-owns with her rapper husband Jay Z and other stars.
Released in April, Lemonade clearly joins the dots between the black civil-rights movements of the past and present. This is Bey channelling the sentiments, though not the sounds, of James Brown's 1968 single Say It Loud – I'm Black And I'm Proud, and Billie Holiday's haunting 1939 evocation of southern state lynchings, Strange Fruit. Lemonade's accompanying promotional film, which was screened on HBO, features moving footage of the mothers of Mike Brown (shot dead at the age of 18 by police in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014) and Trayvon Martin. Both women are seen weeping while holding the last photos taken of their sons.
The film has been nominated for four Emmy awards, including Outstanding Variety Special and Outstanding Picture Editing. The imagery it contains, which hammers home the stark realities of injustice and loss, is difficult to see as anything other than powerful and necessary.
Beyoncé laid the groundwork for Lemonade in February, with her show-stopping performance of the album track Formation as part of the Super Bowl half-time show. With its state-of-the-art sonics and booming sub-bass, the song is a powerful ode to black womanhood, and recalls stereotypes. "I like my baby hair, with baby hair and afros / I like my negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils."
International response
The Black Lives Matter movement has also inspired artists outside of the US. Last week, British hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks posted on Facebook a music video for the punchy, incisive SLBK, in response to Black Lives Matter marches in London, Berlin and Amsterdam last week.
Galvanised by the BLM protests across the Atlantic, the young rappers, from Brighton, used SLBK to comment on the poverty and gang violence affecting black youths in the United Kingdom.
Music-streaming website 8.tracks.com currently offers 20 Black Lives Matter playlists.
Songs such as D'Angelo's Prince-like gem The Charade ("All we wanted was a chance to talk / 'Stead we got outlined in chalk"); J Cole's ballad Be Free; and Lauryn Hill's Black Rage (an audacious reworking of The Sound of Music's My Favourite Things), have also been adopted as anthems by BLM followers.
But to paraphrase a 1964 civil-rights anthem by soul great Sam Cooke, one senses that, if “a change is gonna come”, it needs to be soon, and peaceful. This is a point underlined by events in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Sunday, where gunman Gavin Long shot dead three police officers before being shot and killed himself.
artslife@thenational.ae
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Results
Stage seven
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 3:20:24
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 1s
3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 5s
General Classification
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 25:38:16
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 22s
3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 48s
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
bundesliga results
Mainz 0 Augsburg 1 (Niederlechner 1')
Schalke 1 (Caligiuri pen 51') Bayer Leverkusen 1 (Miranda og 81')
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Civil%20War
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Alex%20Garland%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Kirsten%20Dunst%2C%20Cailee%20Spaeny%2C%20Wagner%20Moura%2C%20Nick%20Offerman%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Company: Instabug
Founded: 2013
Based: Egypt, Cairo
Sector: IT
Employees: 100
Stage: Series A
Investors: Flat6Labs, Accel, Y Combinator and angel investors
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
RESULTS: 2018 WORLD CUP QUALIFYING - EUROPE
Albania 0 Italy 1
Finland 2 Turkey 2
Macedonia 4 Liechtenstein
Iceland 2 Kosovo 0
Israel 0 Spain 1
Moldova 0 Austria 1
Serbia 1 Georgia 0
Ukraine 0 Croatia 2
Wales 0 Ireland 1
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
Company%20profile
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Bombshell
Director: Jay Roach
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie
Four out of five stars
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The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
AndhaDhun
Director: Sriram Raghavan
Producer: Matchbox Pictures, Viacom18
Cast: Ayushmann Khurrana, Tabu, Radhika Apte, Anil Dhawan
Rating: 3.5/5
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
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AUSTRALIA SQUADS
ODI squad: Aaron Finch (captain), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
Twenty20 squad: Aaron Finch (captain), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
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The Internet
Hive Mind
four stars