News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. July 26, 2013: Haitian-born rapper, Wyclef Jean,has released a musical tribute to 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was shot to death by Hispanic American George Zimmerman last year.
The song comes on the heels of the controversial not-guilty verdict handed down by a jury at the Zimmerman murder trial on July 13th.
The lyrics in new song titled “Justice (If You’re 17),” urges teens to seek justice for Martin through peaceful political action, fighting with their minds.
He laments how the young teen could have been the next president, an astronaut or Steve Jobs.
“The real celebrity is you…you authorize me and you give me the power and you make me famous and you are millions,” he said. “So imagine if you took that same energy and decided that you want to go change a law in congress. The power is not in the celebrity…the power is in the numbers and the communities,” Jean said on MTV recently.
In the video for the song, a young man wearing a dark hoodie walks through the streets while talking on a cell phone to the object of his affection. Unbeknownst to him, he is being watched and followed until he is eventually shot, much like Trayvon was the day he was murdered.
“Man I fear for you, if you’re 17,” Wyclef sings in the reggae-tinged track. “If you’re 17 you should learn the law/Fight with your mind, stronger than arms/Freedom, yeah, for Trayvon/He could have been the next president/He could have been the next Steve Jobs/He could have been the next astronaut/So until we get justice, we won’t stop, until the man he killed/He go down the hole.”
See the video here:
