Kendrick Lamar, Uncle Sam, And America’s Subsequent Captain

Hundreds of thousands watched, however only some really noticed what Kendrick Lamar’s Tremendous Bowl efficiency revealed about America’s soul. It wasn’t only a present—it was a problem. A confrontation, a second the place historical past and spectacle collided, demanding we determine what sort of nation we have gotten.

It was the sort of efficiency that unsettles. The type that lingers within the thoughts, making some cheer and others uneasy. And like every second that forces us to look within the mirror, it has sparked debate.

And that’s a great factor.

Debate—particularly about American tradition and identification—is critical. It’s how we interrogate which means, how we push again in opposition to false narratives, and the way we make sense of the place we stand in historical past. My function right here isn’t to close down the dialog—it’s to deepen it. So as to add one other layer, one which resists straightforward labels and challenges us to see what’s actually at stake.

One take gaining traction is the declare that Samuel L. Jackson’s function within the efficiency was that of the “home slave.” This interpretation is not only mistaken—it basically misreads each Jackson’s presence and the deeper symbolism at play.

Samuel L. Jackson’s portrayal of Uncle Sam wasn’t a throwaway gimmick. Wearing a star-spangled swimsuit, Jackson opened the present with, “Salutations, it’s your Uncle Sam,” a line heavy with weight. However he wasn’t there to carry out a sanitized patriotism or to be a passive servant to energy. His presence was a selection—an invite.

He wasn’t a “home slave.” He was Legba.

In African diasporic traditions, Legba is the guardian of the crossroads—the second of choice, the place the place previous and future collide. At that second, Jackson wasn’t simply enjoying Uncle Sam. He was embodying the American dilemma itself. His presence was not about blind allegiance to the state, nor about rejection—it was in regards to the actuality that America, like Legba on the crossroads, should determine which path it’ll take.

Kendrick Lamar’s efficiency was crammed with these moments of choice, these calls to reflection. It was not nearly Black battle, however about energy, company, and the alternatives that outline American historical past. And historical past doesn’t transfer ahead with out those that dare to decide on.

This debate isn’t new. Non-Black America—together with progressives and the political leftist—has at all times struggled to grasp the complete scope of Black political, social and cultural thought. There’s a consolation in seeing Blackness solely in opposition, solely in resistance. However what about Black folks like Kendrick who declare America on their very own phrases? Who form it, bend it, outline it?

Calling Jackson a “home slave” oversimplifies Black identification as an alternative of partaking with its full depth and complexity. It’s a well-recognized entice, typically repeated in non-Black areas throughout the political spectrum: the concept that Black identification is both radical or compliant, discipline slave or home slave, revolutionary or sellout. However Blackness has by no means been that easy. It has at all times existed on the crossroads—reshaping America, difficult it, refusing to be boxed in by the slim selections that others attempt to impose.

We see this all through Black historical past—particularly throughout Black Historical past Month, when narratives are sometimes decreased to straightforward soundbites.

Malcolm X was as soon as considered by America as irredeemable, solely to later be recast as an emblem of enlightenment. However Malcolm was by no means only one factor—his politics advanced, his imaginative and prescient expanded, and in the long run, it was his complexity that made him a menace. Even to those that had claimed him in his earlier evolutions.

James Baldwin refused to be decreased to a singular identification, rejecting the simplistic binaries of race and sexuality that White and Black America typically tried to impose on him. He was each deeply American and profoundly important of America as a result of he understood that actual love—for an individual or a nation—means demanding extra from it.

Audre Lorde, a Black lesbian feminist warrior-poet, pushed again in opposition to the very concept that liberation may come from slim definitions. She spoke of the facility of distinction—not as a division, however as a supply of power.

And Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans activist, refused to let historical past erase her or outline her solely via the lens of battle. She fought for LGBTQ+ rights at a time when each the mainstream and the margins tried to silence her existence. She was extra than simply resistance—she was pleasure, imaginative and prescient, and a refusal to be flattened into one story.

Like them, Jackson’s function in Kendrick’s efficiency wasn’t about becoming right into a false dichotomy of acceptable or radical Blackness. It was about forcing America to confront its personal contradictions.

This efficiency was about selection. Not only for Kendrick Lamar or Black folks—however for America.

And the query isn’t simply being requested at half-time. It’s enjoying out in popular culture, too.

In just some days, Marvel’s Captain America: Courageous New World will hit theaters, with Sam Wilson—performed by Anthony Mackie—totally entering into the function of Captain America. It’s a movie wrestling with the identical query Kendrick posed in his halftime present: Who will get to outline America? Who holds energy? And what does it imply to hold that weight as a Black individual in a rustic that also struggles with its personal contradictions?

Jackson’s Uncle Sam wasn’t there to reassure anybody. He wasn’t there to beg for acceptance or to wave the flag with out query. He was there to remind us that Black folks have at all times been on the coronary heart of what it means to be American—typically in ways in which neither conservatives nor progressives totally care to grasp.

So right here we’re, standing on the crossroads, identical to Jackson in that second.

The crossroads isn’t an summary concept—it’s right here, now. Will we transfer towards an America that acknowledges the complete depth of Black identification and its promise of liberation for all? Or will we stay trapped within the false selections of the previous?

Kendrick Lamar gave us a imaginative and prescient. Jackson pointed to the highway forward. However neither of them may select for us.

That’s as much as us.

That’s as much as you.

SEE ALSO:

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