Mos Def | Privilege, Pain and Politics

Trigger Warning: The video is quite distressing and not for the faint hearted.

Early this morning I stumbled upon the following video by Yasiin Bey, the artist formerly, or more commonly know as, Mos Def.

It was a disturbing reenactment of what those held at Guantanamo allegedly have to go through. The suggestion being that the detainees at Gitmo who are on hunger strike are force fed in the manner demonstrated by Yasin made me feel very uncomfortable. Not only for the way it was portrayed but a certain discomfort I have with celebrities being the spokespersons for those who cannot otherwise speak. That same discomfort I see when I hear George Clooney being a mouthpiece for Sudan, Bono for any part of Subsaharan Africa and even Angelina Jolie speaking at the G8 summit with her concerns for refugees.

I hasten to add that I believe all the aforementioned celebrities…