- Ronald Ávila-Claudio – @ronaldavilapr
- BBC News World
image source, Sony
We are ‘here, hey / We are’ here / Look at me, we are ‘here.
Puerto Rican’s new single Rene Perezbetter known as Residente, asks the world to look at the abuse and suffering in America.
But, above all, This is Not America It shows, according to the artist, how the United States appropriated the name that belongs to an entire region characterized by the diversity of its hundreds of millions of inhabitants.
“From the point of view of the United States, everything that is present in the video, for them that is not America,” he says in an interview with BBC Mundo.
With this in mind, he tried to portray America from end to end, to make it clear that “It’s from Tierra del Fuego to Canada.”
In the production that came to light on Thursday and that already has millions of views on YouTube, she joins her voice to the Ibeyi duo, made up of sisters of Cuban descent Naomi Diaz and Lisa Kainde.
image source, Sony
In the video, he stages protests in Venezuela, Colombia and Puerto Rico; presents images of guerrillas, the narco and the favelas; gangs that pray to a crucified Christ on a beach and a woman who, separated from her child, breastfeeds him through a fence; he places pre-Columbian pyramids in the middle of cities and replaces the Statue of Liberty with that of a person from an original people.
It also gives an account of specific historical events, and shows them crudely, such as the murder of the Chilean musician Víctor Jara, who was shot in the head.
BBC Mundo spoke with the artist about the symbolism behind his new song. The interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
The video and lyrics of the song are full of symbolism. ¿Qhuh is for you America?
The video begins with a work by Alfredo Jaar, who did the same thing about 30 years ago. statement: the reaffirmation that America is the entire continent, and not just one country. Inspired by that I named the song.
From the point of view of the United States, the situations that I present in the video are not part of America.
image source, Sony
Official artwork for Residente’s new single, “This is Not America”. The song, the artist said, is meant to complement Childish Gambino’s This is America tune.
But obviously it is America and we all know it. But it is an open secret that people hear and let it go.
When you internalize it, within your body and your being, and your spirit, it bothers you to feel that they carry a name that belongs to an entire continent.
In these times where they are modifying words, the use of words, what the words mean, (…) it may be a good time to look for alternatives to the word ‘American’ in English and that when they refer to their country they do not Say America, say USA. Easy.
In the video of the song pThese events, mostly tragic or that refer to nonconformity in the different countries of Latin America. ¿Why do you decide to show this face of the continent?
Because most of the situations that I present in the video are connected to interventions by the United States. What better way to tell brotheryou are taking the name after having carried out Operation Condor and having killed half a million people, and having indirectly caused Víctor Jara to be killed during the dictatorship of [Augusto] Pinochet.
It is also a good time to touch on different situations that have occurred in Colombia, in Venezuela and review the important events in America.
Is the video a response to the song This is America de Childish Gambino?
I am a fan of Gambino. It’s like what was missing in This is America. I am completing it, helping it.
I do sing with annoyance, because I rap my verse from the beginning to the end of the song, and while doing it it’s hard to stop and be good people at the end in the punch line.
image source, Getty Images
Childish Gambino, American singer who in 2018 published the video This is America, which criticized the racial and gun problems in the United States.
But that’s why I say “my brother” in the lyrics. I consider him a brother like all African-Americans. There has to be a unity between African Americans and Latinos as well.
LGambino’s song is from 2018. Is there a reason to present now This is Not America?
This is a topic that has been going on for a long time, it has been going on since before the pandemic. The pandemic paralyzed many outings. My first part of the album was the song René, which came out two years ago.
It seems that it is a late answer but no, I did this quite quickly. I said ‘let me contribute the idea to fill in what is missing in the topic’. And so that’s what I did.
¿Dwhere did you record the video from This is Not America?
I recorded the video in Tijuana (Mexico). I hate flying. I hate flying in all types of aircraft. It was easy to get there by land because I was in Los Angeles at the time. Tijuana is quite colorful, it has a super good production team because they produce a lot of Hollywood stuff.
All Latin American countries visually share many things. The color of the neighborhoods, the people, how we see ourselves physically. Mexico has that, it’s like a Latin American funnel where everything that goes through Latin America has to go through Mexico before reaching the United States and a little bit of everything stays there.
Why did you decide to start the video with Puerto Rican nationalist leader Lolita Lebrón? (She was arrested in 1954 along with three other people for shooting at the United States Congress)
So that they know her in other places, and when they ask, to be able to talk about her, and about the colonial situation of the country. It’s a good way to start the video, with that event of the attack on Congress.
It is strong, I am Puerto Rican and we are close to the United States government. Our president is Joe Biden. But the main idea is that people who do not know the situation, know it.
image source, Library of Congress
Lolita Lebrón, a nationalist leader from Puerto Rico, was arrested in 1954 along with three other people for shooting at the United States Congress. She is one of the first characters to appear in the Puerto Rican singer’s video.
There are those who think that this idea of blaming the colonizer for the events that occur in Latin America and other parts of the world has become too widespread.
I said it in Latin America (the song): ‘I forgive but I never forget’. They are forgiven, but we cannot forget the root of why things happen. Forgiveness is like telling African Americans to forget about all the atrocities they committed against them. You can’t forget that. You can forgive it, live in peace with it, but not forget it.
Many whites in the United States do not forget it either and are aware, and have the care that they must have towards African Americans when they are going to talk about them, but it is normal that there is that courage.
And it is not against the country (USA). The country is brutal. In my band I have Americans who love the song This is Not America. It’s not about the country, creating an idea and a cliché that you hate a country. We are pointing out how the United States government has indoctrinated many people to believe that the United States is America and how they have colonized all countries and have been involved in most of the atrocities that have occurred in Latin America. The same goes for Russia and its adjacent countries. The same goes for China, big countries always do that.
A lot people wonder why you criticize the United States and you live in the country.
That’s a pretty silly question. It is like telling a Venezuelan that if he lives in Venezuela he cannot criticize his country.
But what do you answer to this people…
There are so many ways to respond. I believe in the independence of countries, I am living in an independent country, in fact it is a republic. But I don’t live in the United States, I live in Puerto Rico. That’s the biggest thing, what happens is that people make up any story. I work in the United States, sometimes for several months, three months.
But if I have a house in Puerto Rico, that does not appear. ‘He bought a house in Los Angeles’… well, that’s where they break the news. But my house is in Puerto Rico, I vote in Puerto Rico, I was in Puerto Rico throughout the pandemic. What happens is that I have a work team in Los Angeles, I get together and stay for a while and return to Puerto Rico.
image source, Getty Images
In the production This is Not America, Residente refers to demonstrations in various Latin American countries. In the photo, people shout at the Puerto Rico Police during the protests against Ricardo Rosselló in 2019, which occurred in San Juan.
Of the scenes and symbols that you present in the videohThere are some that have more preponderance, such as the murder of Víctor Jara. Which are the most significantfor you?
Yes, it is one of the strongest deaths. They killed a musician for playing music. It is as if they killed Nina Simone, although they did censor her and made her life very difficult. But I think there are a lot of powerful images. The Statue of Liberty with Latin Americans, I think it is strong. [El presidente de Brasil, Jair] Bolsonaro too, eating and wiping his mouth with the Brazilian flag.
image source, Getty Images
Image of the singer Víctor Jara on a flag during the demonstrations that took place in Chile in 2019. One of the most shocking moments in the video for Residente is when he recreates the murder of the musician that occurred during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
Why do you choose Bolsonaro and no give thems role to other Latin American leaders?
We could make a video of all the presidents washing their mouths with the flag. What happens is that there was only one space, and for me the one who won the award this year for everything he has done is him.
Although there are many, Bolsonaro has something particular. As much as these leaders have committed atrocities, someone I can imagine wiping his mouth with flags is Bolsonaro. He is someone who burned down the entire Amazon, do you understand? He began to destroy the continent.
Also, Brazil is always excluded when Latin American things happen. People forget about Brazil because they don’t speak Spanish. So it was good to represent him on that side. But I think he deserved it [Daniel] Ortega, as a lot of other presidents deserve it… [Nicolás] Mature. There is a list of presidents who deserve to be singled out for what they do in their countries.
There is a part where you see some young people shot in the head…
He represents many of the Latin American youth, students, who have been murdered. To the false positives, even students who have demonstrated in Venezuela, in Cali. In Argentina, everywhere.
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