Public Enemy’s Chuck D: fighting systemic racism “is a long hike and you got to continually go at it”

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Public Enemy’s Chuck D has said that fighting systemic racism “is a long hike and you got to continually go at it”.

Speaking in a recent interview with The Guardian, Public Enemy frontman Chuck D discussed the forthcoming U.S. election, calling Donald Trump a “half-baked celebrity”,  the importance of Black women in the fight for racial justice, and his recent fake fued with Flavor Flav.

Discussing the Black Lives Matter movement, which gained traction earlier this year when protests erupted following the death of George Floyd, Chuck D said BLM had “made a difference”, but that there was still more work to be done.

“You know, it’s a marathon, it’s not the 60-metre dash,” he said. “To work on systemic racism and all those other ills, man, it is a long hike and you got to continually go at it. It’s a constant counterattack.”

Chuck D also discussed Public Enemy’s 1989, anti-establishment anthem, ‘Fight The Power’, which saw a surge in streams during the BLM protests, alongside tracks by N.W.A, Beyoncé, and Kendrick Lamar.

In June, Public Enemy released ‘State of the Union (STFU)’, an Anti-Trump anthem taking aim at the current political climate, on Juneteenth — a holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in the U.S..

You can read the full interview with The Guardian here.