Woman Is The Nigger of The World: Why Did John Lennon Write This Song?
And other controversial songs by white artists.
John Lennon was a committed fighter for racial equality.
At least by all accounts.
When a former enforcer for a slumlord in Notting Hill, London, became a major advocate for racial equality in the United Kingdom, the most iconic Beatle quickly latched on to Michael X and became a huge supporter of his.
But Lennon’s activism took a backseat to his prolific song writing abilities.
You would be hard pressed to find a better songwriter in the history of popular music than Liverpool’s greatest son.
When you think of the ones he wrote with McCartney: Come together, Hey Jude, Let it be, Yellow Submarine, I wanna hold your hand, Yesterday, Love me do and you think of his solo efforts: Jealous guy, Happy Christmas, war is over, woman and not forgetting his magnum opus —Imagine, it is almost beyond dispute that his pen game was miles ahead of the rest.
And it is precisely we must ask why he wrote and performed the song, woman is the nigger of the world.
Even if the song was meant to be a feminist anthem, the very title did, without question, undermine his commitment to racial equality and everything he stood…