{"id":1061,"date":"2016-08-08T08:27:35","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T13:27:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gilcanrun.com\/?p=1061"},"modified":"2016-08-08T08:27:35","modified_gmt":"2016-08-08T13:27:35","slug":"it-was-a-challenge-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gilcanrun.com\/?p=1061","title":{"rendered":"It was a challenge today"},"content":{"rendered":"

So I took off today, I need to get back into marathon shape and so 15 miles (25km) seemed appropriate<\/a>. It was definitely tough, heavy headwind, some rain, very narrow area to run on the roads. Although, for about an hour I got a nice bike path to follow. Even the dirt roads are nicer than some roads I’ve run. One fun thing that happened was while I was running past a cow pasture, the Jersey cows there were all staring at me, and as I got toward the end of the field, the cows all started running with me. It was very odd. Also, kind of cool.
\nSo it seems over the weekend at a hardcore festival in Philadelphia, one of my favorite artists, in making a statement at how amazed he is that all these years later we still have all this racial division in society, and how much that sucks, was met a little wrong. Gorilla Biscuits have always had songs about unity, togetherness, harmony, kindness, basically being decent human beings. Even to animals, not just humans. No matter what he said, his songs have always carried the same message. What he said exactly was:
\n\u201cIn 2016 people still have to wear shirts that say \u2018Black Lives Matter\u2019. No shit. Brown, white, yellow, black, we all fucking matter. Everybody here matters. Do not let the media, schools, institutions, influence you. We are one family, one people.”
\nI get what he’s saying, I think he said it wrong. The key is “people still have to wear shirts…” because he’s amazed that we haven’t gotten over our racist bullshit yet. I’ve met Civ, he’s tattooed me, he will (hopefully) tattoo me in the future. I know he’s someone who cares, and I know that he understands that there is massive injustice in the world and we all have to put an end to it. He’s been fighting these battles for 30+ years, I get that he’s frustrated. I’m not trying to whitesplain this. I’m saying, from a point of view of someone who knows the band, knows the lyrics, and what they mean, it was poorly worded.
\nHere are the lyrics to Degradation:<\/p>\n

Tell me who’s pure. Tell me who’s right.
\nTell me the last time you fought a fair fight.
\nA loser’s way to find some friends,
\nyou look like a skin but that’s where it ends.
\nTrue, they’re always at our shows,
\nIt doesn’t mean we fit in with their hatred and racism shit.
\nThey ruin our name, you know what I mean.
\nRacial supremacists degrade our scene.<\/p>\n

You know you can kiss my ass before I read your zine.
\nThere’s no good side to this white power scene.
\nKids beat down for standing up.
\nYour turn will come because we’ve all had enough.
\nYou look like kids we know. You’re not welcome here.
\nYou don’t like music and we don’t like fear.
\nI guess it’s your right to be proud that your white.
\nAre you here for music or just to pick fights.<\/p>\n

Don’t fool yourself cause you don’t fool me.
\nIt’s not just blacks you hate, it’s everyone you see.
\nRich, poor, young, and old, whoever’s in your way.
\nWhat a boring life, hating every day.<\/p>\n

YOU’VE GOT NOTHING BUT HATRED!<\/p>\n

Yep, he got it wrong, but he’s literally been fighting for justice and egging on racist shitheads for 30 years now. I’ll back him up on this one. I don’t want to speak for him, but I’ll bet you that he has absolutely no problem with #BlackLivesMatter except for the fact it has to exist at all. That we live in a world where racism is still a thing.<\/p>\n