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Talib Kweli

Posted Mar 27 2006

By Daniel D. Zarazua

This exercise was designed to get my students to discuss current events. As you'll read, Talib address topics as diverse as terrorism, police brutality, and the presidential election. But before we could get into a meaningful discussion I had to make sure that they understood the words in the song and had some historical context. Although they were free to discuss their own opinions, I was very deliberate about making sure we discussed how the complexities of life often lead to contradictions in our personal beliefs and to think critically about our sources of information. What biases does Talib bring to the table? How did they differ from the students' own world views? This is a heavily layered song and could've easily turned into several lessons. As time permits, I'll probably add some links to topics that are addressed in this song, as well as Talib's bio. For now, I thought that it would be beneficial for others to at least see what we're doing. The discussions went well, the students got exposed to some hip hop outside of the mainstream, and Talib gained some new fans. You have to appreciate those little victories (smile). Go to the next page to see the worksheet that we used.

“The Proud” Worksheet

Written by Daniel D. Zarazua

Vocabulary:
Define and use in a sentence, showing what it means.

1. Prevail-

2. Propaganda-

3. Perceive-

4. Terminate-

5. Precedent-

6. Patriot-

7. Oppression-

Questions:

1. What is the Vice President’s name?

Intro

2. Who is Timothy McVeigh?

Verse One

3. What is the significance of this line “I remember Oklahoma when they put out the blaze/and put Islamic terrorist bombing on the front page/it’s like saying only gays get AIDS.”

4. Why is the problem not over?

5. What is the significance of the “first inning?”

6. What is the battle for ’s soul?

7. How does Talib feel about the administration?

8. What is he talking about when he says that the election is fixed?


9. What is this line about “parents fought and got wet for that, Hosed down, bit by dos, and got Blacks into house arrest for that?”

10. What about “It’s all good except for that – we still poor?”

11. Do you think that he’s for or against young people voting and being part of the political process?

Verse Two

12. What happened on August 4, 2001?

13. What’s Proposition 21?

14. Do you agree with the line that knowledge is more dangerous than guns? Why or why not?

15. What is he talking about when he says “41 shots to the body is what he can expect?”

16. Who is Kurt Loder?

17. How does he feel about the police? Do you think it’s justified? Do you agree? Why or why not?

Final Interlude

18. What is the Pentagon?

19. What does he mean by “’s false sense of security?”

20. What does he say about the police in this section?

Verse Three

21. What is Ground Zero?

22. What is the “greatest sacrifice?”

23. Why do you think this is “a hard conversation to have?”

 

 

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