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Famous strip club thats been around for a minute. Lil wayne, t-pain, and many other rappers have stopped by

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Racist people will often cross the street to avoid undesirable minorities. A white woman jogging may switch to the opposite to avoid a black man walking down the street.

It is interesting that this line is not “made you cross the street the other day,” but “made me cross the street the other day,” which could mean that Zonday, as a black man, is forced to do the crossing himself to prevent potentially fatal encounters with law enforcement or white supremacists.
It could also refer to internalized racism – Zonday could be saying that racism has penetrated so deeply into African American culture that a significant majority of black people are now scared of other black people

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Many people are willing to look away from acts of racism. Those in positions of racial privilege often turn to willful blindness, finding it easier than genuine self-examination and activism.

In a literal sense, people don’t like meeting the eyes of the group of people they’re prejudiced against, unless it’s with leering hatred. Even latent racism can cause this, such as in the concept of “white fragility,” which is where white people are often too uncomfortable to discuss racism, due to their underlying subconscious racism.

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Many companies contribute to racism by charging black people more for insurance, as compared to white neighborhoods with similar risk. This practice is known as “redlining,” because when it was first implemented, “undesirable” (read: black) neighborhoods would be outlined in red on maps in insurance offices, and people from those neighborhoods would be rejected or given a higher rate.

It’s also purportedly more difficult to sell property with minority residents nearby. Racism is so common that the fact that people are less willing to live around minorities needs to be taken into account when determining housing costs.

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There are two different ways to read the phrase “chocolate rain”:

  • Chocolate used as a descriptive adjective; rain made of/containing chocolate, as in “chocolate milk.”
  • Chocolate used as a possessive adjective; rain belonging to “chocolate” (black) people, as in “Italian food.” Given that rain is a metaphor for hardships and oppression, the fact that it “belongs” to black people means that it affects them specifically in a way that other people are immune to.

These two interpretations coexist in the phrase “chocolate rain”, though which one the listener gravitates towards shapes what the song means for them. If they interpret “chocolate rain” as the former, the song becomes a prototypical example of early 2000s random humor. When read as the latter, the song is a commentary on racism. While the “random humor” interpretation does not hold much water, the quirky nature of the song, with its dramatic piano work, rich, deep vocals, and cryptic lyrics led many to not realize the true nature of the song when it was first released.

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It’s a well documented fact that black people are incarcerated at higher rates than other races (especially white people). This removes a portion of the black population from the public eye, allowing for racism to “disappear” according to the “out of sight, out of mind” model. However, the reality of the prison system– black people being incarcerated at higher rates and subjected to modern-day slavery– implies that racism really hasn’t gone anywhere.

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During the 1960’s, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and other black leaders fought for racial equality. Following landmark cases like Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed segregation in public schools, many people were satisfied that racism was “over” and equality had been achieved. The publishing industry, which is overwhelmingly white, is especially willing to put forth the false narrative that racism is “only in the past”.

Many people believe and say that racism is no longer prevalent, even though it still is, or that conversations about racism aren’t necessary anymore. This framing of racism as “only in the past” attempts to silence black people and activists who are working against racism in the modern era.

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Black people tend to receive harsher sentences for the same crimes as their white counterparts. Despite the clear difference, the supposedly-impartial (and often completely white) judge and jury would defend themselves against allegations of racism.

More specifically, Zonday could be referring to the crack era, where the United States government introduced crack cocaine to urban areas. Black people, more likely to interact with crack, would receive 100 times as harsh a sentence if they possessed this solidified form of cocaine instead of the powder form (frequently associated more with white folks). Science has proven there is no chemical difference in the two forms of the drug.

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The news media (which is more white than the average population) has a tendency to focus on stories and events that suit their personal agenda. Looking at the bigger picture is the only way to find the truth.

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A metaphor for the concept of privilege. Some people don’t experience certain problems, so they believe these problems don’t exist. This is like being safe from the rain in a tent, and therefore believing that the whole world has no rain.

In the context of this song, Zonday is most likely referring to some white people in the U.S. who don’t easily notice racism – since it doesn’t affect them – and therefore assume that it isn’t a problem nowadays.

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