How Json responded to the deaths of Alton Sterling, Philandro Castile

When Json’s latest project, Foreign, Vol. 1, dropped on Friday, July 8, it was the least of his concerns.

On Tuesday of that week, a black male named Alton Sterling was shot and killed by police.

On Wednesday of that week, a black male named Philandro Castile was shot and killed by police.

“When everything happened,” Json said, “obviously my heart was heavy — like really heavy, bro… I wasn’t upset like, ‘Dag, my project’s out and this happened.’ It was more so like, I had to give my attention to that.”

Json responded by facilitating discussions about solutions at his job. In addition to being an artist and CEO for Lamp Mode Recordings, he is the director of job and leadership training at Mission: St. Louis, a non-profit which fights poverty in the city.

“I work with a group of guys who have been to the penitentiary, struggling to get jobs, and we had class the day after all this stuff blew up,” Json said. “We have a curriculum created, but we just deviated from that to talk about this subject. And I could tell as dudes were coming in, their hearts were heavy, you could see the frustration on their faces. So not only did [the news] have my attention from me being an African American male, and seeing what’s happened, and then seeing news feeds, and seeing everything happening on social media, while at the same time, I’m around dudes who want to respond in a certain way.”

Json believes the conversation was productive, and he wants more conversations to occur.

“I could tell that it provided some comfort for dudes, one, to be able to vent how they were feeling, and then two, to be able to not necessarily provide answers, but to have them thinking through solutions. And that’s one of my big things,” Json said. “We could talk about everything that’s going on, and we could talk about our perspectives and our opinions, but if you’re not doing anything, then I don’t want to hear your opinion.”

Many people who were grieved by last month’s tragedies wanted to fight racial injustice but did not know how. Json offered one way that everyone can help with racial reconciliation.

“The most beautiful thing is you can start on a basic level,” he said. “The basic level is reaching out to people that don’t look like you, talk like you, act like you and don’t come from your background, so reaching out to other races and inviting them into your world, and having these difficult dialogues. It’s going to take hard conversations… You don’t need money. You don’t need an organization You don’t need none of that. All you need to do is be willing to step outside of your comfort zone. If you have a friend that’s African American, call him and say, ‘Look, I really would like to spend some time just us conversating over these next few months, and I want to understand the fabric of what you come from…’

“When I say, ‘If you’re not doing anything,’ ‘boots to the ground,’ I’m not meaning you have to be marching, or you have to be running around with picket signs. I’m saying, ‘Are you actively involved in things that can help change the cultural climate?’”

David Daniels
David Daniels
David Daniels is a columnist at Rapzilla.com and the managing editor of LegacyDisciple.org. He has been published at Desiring God, The Gospel Coalition, Christianity Today, CCM Magazine, Bleacher Report, The Washington Times and HipHopDX.
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