*Lyrics from Hamilton star Daveed Diggs about the racism of Donald Trump and his followers have gone viral on TikTok.
Diggs’ lines, “Donald Trump is a white supremacist, full stop. If you vote for him again, you’re a white supremacist, full stop,” are from the song “Chapter 319” by clipping., an experimental hip hop group featuring Diggs and producers Jonathan Snipes and William Hutson. They released the track on Bandcamp last week in honor of Juneteenth.
Diggs, Snipes, and Hutson were inspired to write “Chapter 319” after participating in Black Lives Matter protests. They explain in a Twitter thread:
About a year and a half ago, we met an artist who’d grown up on the Standing Rock reservation. He told us that the media only showed the most horrific parts of the NoDAPL protests—the police’s use of tear gas and sonic weaponry, the mass arrests and harsh treatment of protestors. He told us that in between those atrocities, there were many moments of joy. He was there with his whole family—sometimes it was like a huge party. He had brought a PA system to the protest to play music. One of the albums he played was CLIPPNG. He said people started requesting ‘Tonight’ because it was fun to dance to and made people laugh. This story got us thinking about music’s usefulness in political and social movements, as a physical, affective expression of collectivity. We made ‘Chapter 319’ as a tribute to S.U.C. [Screwed Up Click] member Big Floyd, but also with this specific usefulness in mind.
Sales from the track will be donated to organizations dedicated to racial justice.
Listen below:
Here’s what happened when TikTok got wind of the song:
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