Kane Brown is having trouble finding the middle ground as a biracial man amid the ongoing protests against police brutality.
The country singer explained that current times have been tough for him and his family as people continue to put him on one side of the debate or another. The 26-year-old, whose mother is white and father is Black, explained that his goal is unity at a time when lines are being drawn in the wake of the death of George Floyd while in police custody in May.
“I’m trying to bring everybody together, and they want me to pick a side,” he told 360aproko news in a recent interview. “I even get pushed from one side to the other. I’m both, and both push back. So I try to understand and see each without losing the other.”
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The “Homesick” singer explained that his daughter often gets dragged into the debate about how the Black community is policed in the United States.
“2020’s been tough in general. I’m glad my daughter doesn’t know what’s going on, and she’s not going to remember,” he explained. “Having a biracial daughter, I have a lot of people coming at me, asking, ‘How are you going to explain to her when she’s pulled over?’ and ‘What are you going to tell her about the difference between her and her white friends?’”
The singer noted that, as much as he’s inclined to denounce law enforcement, he knows that not all officers are guilty of brutality or unfair policing. However, he acknowledged that officers on a “power trip with a badge” are certainly “out there.”
“There are people who think all cops are bad, but I know that’s not true. Those kids who were bullied in high school, the ones who get this power trip with a badge, they’re out there. They let the power go to their heads; they bully people, but that’s not all cops,” he said. “I know if I get stopped, I need to put my hands out the window so they can see I don’t have a weapon. You have to be real careful about how you speak because you don’t know who’s walking up to the car; you don’t know what they’re scared of or acting out of.”
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Just as he sympathized with officers, Brown tried his best to get people to understand where some of the protesters are coming from.
“If I’m coming from my Black side, I’m super-scared if a cop pulls me over. But the cop? They’re in the line of fire every day, and that’s part of it. So I try to love everybody: the cops who do their jobs, anyone who’s a good person in this society. It’s like the looters; I’ve heard it’s people trying to get attention. But there’s video footage of protesters trying to stop people from looting, from breaking down stores,” he explained. “The protesters are just a distraction—and people don’t want to see that. The rioters in some cases are people who’ve not been working, stuck at home, tired of being cooped up. They aren’t about the cause, and that’s what I mean about trying to see all of it.”
Later in the interview, he added: “We will never find peace until everybody understands. You need to have understanding, not just people yelling at each other, wanting to be right. Then no one wins, and people just get angrier on both sides. If everybody was just trying to find common ground, to understand where the other was coming from, what their fears are, that seems a much better way to find a solution.”
The singer’s message of unity came through in his new song, “Worldwide Beautiful,” which dropped amid the protests in June and urges peace and equality.
The star said he had been “holding onto” the tune for one year and decided to release it early. It was written by the 26-year-old along with Shy Carter, Ryan Hurd, and Jordan Schmidt, per Variety.
In the song, Brown sings: “White churches, Black churches/ Different people, same hearses/ It’s kinda hard to fight with each other/ Laying down in the ground, six under.”
And in the chorus, Brown croons: “You’re missing every color/ If you’re only seeing Black and white/ Tell me how you’re gonna change your mind/ If your heart’s unmovable/ We ain’t that different from each other/ From one to another, I look around/ And see worldwide beautiful.”
