MACON, Ga. — In honor of Black history month, we're highlighting some future Black history icons in the making. Through our partnership with Mercer University's Center for Collaborative Journalism, Amyre Makupson introduces us to a young poet and hip hop artist using his lyrics as a way to unite.
"I realized if I can help myself out of things, dealing with the things that I see on social media and TV with race or whatever it may be, then I can help somebody else," Chris Timothy said.
At 17-years-old Christopher Timothy is already an activist.
"Everyone is human. And then seeing the way that these different demographics are treated as if they're not human, or that they're less than anybody else. Just makes me want to fight for people to realize that they are human," Timothy said.
He's also an artist, performing under the name Prxphecy – using his lyrics to push conversations about race and inequality.
"When you combine music with purpose, you can really speak to someone," he said.
"They may go to it just for the beat or the flow, and then they start to listen and they start to hear the message and you've already got them hooked. And now you can really touch their hearts and touch their minds," he said. "And maybe teach them something they didn't know."
The Howard High school senior says recent events like the shootings of unarmed black men motivated him to speak out.
"Understanding everything that's happened in the past, and none of its really gone away, it's just in a different shape that we all have to deal with. That is a constant motivator of passion for me, because it's not gone, which means I still have so much more to do and so much more to write about," Timothy said.
And he's not stopping anytime soon.
"Because first, it's always equality and equity, but we can't have that if we're not united. Because we have to exist within the same society and sit across the same table if we want to achieve this kind of equal rights that we've been fighting for, for so long," he said.
If you want to hear some of Chris Timothy's work, check out his Instagram here.
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