Afram post #4

The readings this week were really interesting. In "Country music is also Mexican Music", I really appreciated Hurtado brought up the way Donald Trump has helped solidify these racist stereotypes and tropes. I think it is really important to tie stereotypes into current day in order to make these problems visible. Although I love all kinds of music, I do not really listen to much country and the "mexican" music I have listened to is more traditional. Another thing I enjoyed about this reading the the fact that he talks about how country music would not exist today the way it does if it wasn't for Latin culture and how the white cowboy wouldn't exist since "the original cowboy was a vaquero".  This reminds me of the Rockism that exists within white america and white music. I had never thought about the whitewashing of country music before.

The other reading this week that I wanted to talk about is Anzaldua "To Live in the Borderlands" which is a poem that I have actually read before in another class. I really enjoy this poem because she does an amazing job capturing the fact that there are actual physical borders that segregate us along with the social ones that exist as well. The fact that it is a poem too really makes it unique especially with the use of the word "borderlands" and being at "crossroads". I also really like how she portrays how hard it can be to feel displaced and how much America has divided us rather than united us.


The songs that I am picking for my DJ selection are "Rodeo" by Lil Nas X because when his song Old town road was released, being he is a black man, they considered it not to be country. There is much racism and exclusivity among usually white genres and it reminds me of the Hurtado reading.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-yRN55iaQY

My second song that I am picking is "This Land" by Gary Clark Jr. who is a black rocker who is known for his genre mixing. I picked this to go with borderlands as it is talking about how america is the land of the "free" but it was stolen from the people who actually lived in america. He talks about how this land is much mine as it is yours.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KgNaRQ_J-c