Jesus Was A Gook
2015 · Not On Label · Los Angeles, California
- Artist
- Michael Nhat
- Title
- Jesus Was A Gook
- Release
- Heads on Sticks
- Year
- 2015
- Label
- Not On Label
- Format
- Digital · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- Los Angeles, California, USA
- Genre
- Hip Hop · Experimental Hip Hop
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation — My Lai & Lt. William Calley Songs
Experimental Hip Hop artist, born 12 November 1974 in Vietnam, and currently based in Los Angeles, California, USA. In the song "Jesus Was A Gook", he turned his attention to the My Lai Massacre - the mass murder of between 300-500 civilians in the South Vietnamese area known as "Pinkville", containing the hamlets, known as My Lai 4 and My Khe 4, and throughout the area of Song My, by US forces on 16 March 1968. He started, noting that some people focused on the patriotic exploits of John Wayne (who starred in the 1968 flag-waving Vietnam film The Green Berets), while his was Ron Ridenhour, a US soldier who helped uncover the massacre: "some people’s hero’s John Wayne, mine’s Ron Ridenhour, the man who found the power in himself to report the cowards" - possibly the only Vietnam War song to reference him. (1) He sought to raise attention to the massacre because "nobody gives a fuck because they’re Vietnamese". The lyrics went on to recall "the most shocking event in Vietnam" in which US soldiers "pushed us in a ditch while moms cried 'No VC'... shielding in their arms their kids". It referred to the massacre as a "genocide by lies enforced".
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Experimental Hip Hop artist, born 12 November 1974 in Vietnam, and currently based in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Themes
My Lai · Genocide · Gook · VC · Anti-Government · Civil Rights · Sexual Violence · John Wayne · Film · Ronald Ridenhour · Anti-Calley · Anti-Asian Racism · Civilian Casualties · The Green Berets