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In a room full of powerful, seasoned celebrities at the BET Awards in Los Angeles on Monday night, virtually all of them ignored the authoritarianism on the march in their host city. It was the budding rapper Doechii who exhibited rare courage and condemned Donald Trump’s deployment of the military to Los Angeles in an effort to quell demonstrations against his mass incarceration and deportation agenda.
“There are ruthless attacks that are creating fear and chaos in our communities in the name of law and order,” she said. “Trump is using military forces to stop a protest, and I want y’all to consider what kind of government it appears to be when every time we exercise our democratic right to protest, the military is deployed against us.”
The Grammy-winning rapper’s remarks, delivered in her acceptance speech for an award for best female hip-hop artist, constituted the only direct reference to the fascistic images unfolding in the city in an event that lasted nearly five hours. Where L.A.-bred icons like Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg (who performed at a Trump inaugural event this year) took the stage and stayed silent on the matter, Doechii — a relative newcomer to the music industry — did not.
The bravery was notable: Doechii potentially putting her fledgling stardom and rising popularity at risk to speak out. But with her speech, Doechii joins the ranks of other popular female rappers who have spoken out on social justice issues while prominent men in the industry twiddle their thumbs.