River by Leon Bridges - Third Text

In order to deepen the argument of police brutality in the black community I decided to introduce a speech from pastor Jamal Bryant  that was delivered during the Freddie Gray protests in Baltimore. In this speech, pastor Jamal Bryant starts to talk about Freddie Gray's mother and how the citizens of Baltimore need to, "stand with her family shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm...injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere". This quote proves the unity and hope that Leon Bridges was signifying in his own music video. Both the speech and song emphasize that in order for there to be hope, for a better future, in the black community they need to stand together and help each other mourn the losses of their people. Pastor Jamal Bryant also says in the speech that, "houses of faith are going to be open for prayer of those who are grieving and because of the perpetual cycle of injustice that seems to plague us." When Pastor Jamal Bryant says this it reiterates the fact that the injustice of police brutality is taking a toll throughout the black community. Specifically, it lowers their self-esteem making them see themselves as nothing more than targets for discrimination in our society.  This was something that Leon Bridges also was signifying in his music video and emphasized it through emotional scenes. One example was when he showed the young girl looking outside the door with sorrow in her expression as she was witnessing the ongoing horrors of police brutality directed to the black community. However, when Pastor Jamal Bryant talked about standing shoulder to shoulder I think it really shows that being able to be unified with a group of people, who understand your troubles, can help boost your morale and hold on to the last strand of hope. The speech definitely helps emphasize Leon Bridges main message of his own music video which is the broken spirit of the black community, as well as the black community holding on to hope as a unified group.

~Kim Cerritos