Christian rapper and spoken word artist Propaganda visited Southern for a convocation, as well as a show in downtown Chattanooga for the English Department. In his convocation, he spoke on the topic of intersectionality.
In speaking about race and diversity, Propaganda opened with a remark about just how diverse Southern seemed to be. He talked about the interconnectedness that should drive humans to be, as he put it, better neighbors.
“The intention and desire to see yourself in others…in hopes that we would just be neighbors, ” he said.
He illustrated that human beings are Venn diagrams not boxes that get checked. Each human being has so many overlaps with others. Namely, one of his final points emphasized that we all fit into the circle of “made in the image of God.”
“Everyone has biases,” Propaganda said. “You can only see your world through your own eyes. That’s not wrong, ‘cause we have them; they’re unavoidable. I think what’s wrong is the assumption that yours is the best. … So, I would just hope ultimately that we would be spurred to be better neighbors.”
Rhidge Garcia, Student Association president, was the person who invited Propaganda to speak at convocation.
“He was actually a suggestion that [Lucas Patterson] made,” Garcia said. “I was looking for a second-semester convo speaker, and the guy I invited kinda didn’t come through. So I was kinda scrambling like, ‘Oh shoot, who should I get?’
“When [Patterson] gave me the suggestion, I ran with it,” he continued. “I love Prop. I actually heard Prop on a song that he did with The Brilliance. Since then, I’ve listened to podcasts from him - a lot of his poetry work - and I was just so excited for him to come down.”
Not only was Garcia excited about the visit, students genuinely seemed to enjoy Propaganda’s presentation.
“What I really appreciated: One, as you know, convo is a time when people just go to get that cultural credit, and he made it so personable,” Garcia said. “Everyone was laughing. He related to people. … [I wanted] somebody who’s very educated with what’s going on in pop culture, and all the stuff in politics, and able to tie that in; not only with advice that’s practical for us but that is in correlation with biblical principles that we have.”
As for who Propaganda is: He’s a rapper, speaker, father, husband, former teacher, sociologist and commentator. As for his message, he said, “I see myself more as a sociologist and commentator than a preacher-lecturer. … Sort of encourage folks to, like I said this morning, tell better stories about ourselves and about others, you know? And that just creates better worlds.”
In terms of his music, Propaganda has released three studio albums - one of which, Excellent, topped out at number seven on the Billboard gospel charts. He also makes a podcast with his wife, titled “The Red Couch Podcast.”
In regard to which role Propaganda enjoys more, he said for the most part he enjoys both equally. He wants to see the world become a better, more godly place.
“I think a lot of it has to do with the age group and kinda what I need to communicate,” he said.
Image credit: Barry Daly