EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was originally published as part of the Spring 2019 magazine.
“Went through some things/But I couldn’t imagine my kids stuck at the border (Straight up)”
So rapped 21 Savage in the music video for his hit song “a lot”. In the early morning hours of February 3 of this year, the day before Super Bowl LIII, the father of 3 was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a targeted sting. The rapper’s song “a lot” surged in the charts in the days following the artist’s arrest.
According to ICE officials, 21 Savage, whose real name is Shéyaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, entered the U.S. legally in July 2005 as a 12-year-old but overstayed his nonimmigrant visa, failing to depart when his time was up.
Fans, activists, and Savage’s lawyers argue that the rapper’s vocal stance against U.S. immigration policy of separating detained families, as expressed in the above lyric, in addition to his activist work advocating for underprivileged youths in the Atlanta area, contributed to increased scrutiny by ICE and his subsequent arrest. Savage’s supporters took to social media to voice their sympathies for him, and a #Free21Savage hashtag was created to build awareness of the issue. At present, he has been released from ICE custody after a 10-day long detainment on $100,000 bond. He awaits a deportation hearing, which sometimes takes up to a year to schedule.
However, not everyone on the internet and in the media was so sympathetic for the young rapper. Endless memes also surfaced, poking fun at Savage’s situation. The punchline of almost every meme was Savage’s British heritage or his arrest by ICE, as exhibited by the example below.
There are several plausible explanations for the internet’s, by extension the media’s, fascination with this new development. Perhaps it is the shock of an artist who aligned himself so closely with the city of Atlanta, rapping frequently about the city’s Zone 6 and whose name includes a number that is a reference to a gang in Decatur, despite being a citizen of a foreign country. It could be that his story is a relevant and intriguing development in the larger debate on immigration, fueled by President Donald Trump’s vitriolic comments about immigrants and the southern border, as well as his plan to build a wall to prevent immigration flow.
Whatever the cause, both media and internet coverage alike bordered on tasteless, as noted by Offset, one third of the hip-hop group Migos and a friend of 21 Savage, who said that “that situation—people be acting like that sh*t be funny. I’m not even seeing it as a meme.” Many have spoken out against the way this story has been framed, emphasizing that, while still a celebrity, Savage is a human being who has been taken from his family for an indefinite period of time. Supporters note that the intense internet and media scrutiny can only exacerbate the situation. Others have “clapped back,” agreeing that Savage’s situation is unfortunate but not uncommon, justifying the publicity.
The situation lends itself to multiple interpretations. On the one hand, one could say that the internet and the media are being less sensitive about Savage’s case because he is a public figure and does not have the same right to privacy, or even compassion, that other citizens do. On the other hand, one could argue that the media is giving Savage special treatment due to his celebrity status, effectively ignoring the hundreds of thousands of people similarly arrested every year by ICE. It is a complex, ongoing situation, but it is hard to dispute the fact that the internet and media alike have been deeply fascinated with this story. Maybe they should not be.
During the 2018 fiscal year, 256,000 people were arrested by ICE. The conditions experienced by these detainees have been given greater attention in recent months, though not nearly to the degree that some argue they should be. In particular, the last several months have highlighted the especially harsh environment ICE detainees are held in at various detention centers along the U.S.-Mexico border, including separation of arrested minors from their parents. In the summer of 2018, the Trump administration revealed that it had no intentions to reunite families separated at the border. Following social media and political outrage, President Trump signed an executive order to end family separations and to begin to reunite such families. However, as of January 2019, thousands of children remain separated, with officials uncertain of the exact number.
Family separations are just one item in a long list of atrocities committed at the southern border. The detention centers that house the arrested migrants run rampant with medical neglect and sexual abuse, and offer little to no legal or translation services, inadequate food stores, and few exercise periods. The plight of these migrants and their stories hardly has the media coverage that was garnered by 21 Savage’s arrest. For example, the death of an 8-year-old Guatemalan migrant child in ICE custody in New Mexico on Christmas Day this past year did not garner nearly as much public attention as Savage’s case did. Neither did the other 11 people who died in U.S. custody in 2018.
Situations like Savage’s happen all too often. While the politics of immigration and illegal migration have been covered more by the media due to increased political and public interest, immigration largely remains a faceless entity. If the media covered daily stories of migrants with the same focus as Savage’s, it could foster a stronger dialogue about the treatment of migrants and begin to build solidarity for undocumented immigrants.
The silver lining of the intense focus on 21 Savage’s situation is that it can be used to illuminate the harsh conditions imposed by ICE on its detainees. By publicizing the young rapper’s unfortunate predicament while highlighting the frequent mistreatment of non-celebrity detainees, popular and social media can be a force for good in the fight for comprehensive immigration reform.
References
Valencia, Nick, and Eric Levenson. “Rapper 21 Savage Will Be Released from ICE Detention on Wednesday.” CNN, Cable News Network, 13 Feb. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/02/12/us/21-savage-rapper-release-ice/index.html.
“21 Savage Says His Lawyers Think ICE Targeted Him Because Of Lyrics On ‘A Lot.’” Genius, Genius Media Group Inc., genius.com/a/21-savage-says-his-lawyers-think-ice-targeted-him-because-of-lyrics-on-a-lot.
Bever, Lindsey, and Deanna Paul. “Deportations under Trump Are on the Rise but Still Lower than Obama’s, ICE Report Shows.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 14 Dec. 2018,