Song Reflection

Song: Change - Christina Aguilera (co-written by Aguilera and Who Is Fancy)

I chose this song because it was written shortly after the Orlando massacre, and dedicated to the victims of that hate crime. Although it is more focused on LGBTQ+ rights, it also reflects on racial issues. The co-writer Who Is Fancy wrote part of the song following riots and protests in St.Louis surrounding the treatment of minorities. During that time, the bill that granted gay couples the right to marry had not passed yet. However, after Orlando it was clear that even with that bill passed, the LGBTQ+ community is still an oppressed community. This issue is very central to me, as I believe that the horrendous and vicious hate against the queer community needs to be addressed and change. No longer can people justify their hate with religion, because the massacre was so distinctly evil and hateful it could not represent any peaceful religion that people in the U.S. claim to back their hate. Orlando was the worst mass shooting in United States history, and it deserves all the attention in the world because it highlighted hate, both racial and LGBTQ+ related, and also the issues of gun violence. It just seems so blatantly obvious that hate cannot be tolerated, especially when it manifests to murder. Orlando was a wake-up call for me, I hadn’t been that touched by an act of violence like this. I haven’t been able to move on or forget because I keep feeling the hate radiating from that shooting. It represented all the hateful rhetoric that has been perpetuated far too long.