Sir T’s Video for ‘Legend’ Explores Islamophobia in Suburban Auckland

Auckland based hip-hop artist Sir T has released a powerful video that explores Islamophobia in New Zealand and how ordinary people can have inspirational influence in their communities.

Hailing from Beach Haven on Auckland’s North Shore, Sir T says that he didn't want "Legend" to be a typical music video but one that spoke about and addressed broader social issues. "I’ve met a lot of people of different races or religion that have felt out of place in NZ communities, and we wanted to highlight this unfairness."

Written and directed by Tom Levesque, and set in suburban Auckland, the video, follows the day in the life a young runaway as he deals with a racist older brother who tries to take his anger out on the local Muslim community.

Watch the video and read some commentary from Sir T and Tom below.

Tom: We wanted to ask the question, 'What will the next generation be like if we teach them hate?'

Sir T: No one is born with a religion - everything is taught and shown to us as kids. The same goes for mind state; if we are taught from a young age to strive to be great and to treat everybody with respect, then anyone can be a Legend.

Tom: Every practicing Muslim we spoke to during our research shared stories of being victims to Islamaphobia in New Zealand – which increased after the Paris attacks, and further motivated us to tell this story of equality and humanity.

Sir T: I wanted to portray that a Legend can be any colour, any age, any religion - no matter what situation or experience.

Tom: We spoke to many ‘moderate’ Muslims who are breaking out of a stereotypical image, embracing their environments whilst retaining their beliefs.

Sir T: I know people who feel the reality of their religion/race negatively affecting their lives, and I like that they can still wake up and smile most days.

Tom: We wanted to highlight how disaffected youth are susceptible to the development of negative attitudes toward cultural minorities – influenced by violence in mass media.

Tom: New Zealand Muslim communities typically live in working class neighbourhoods, in amongst a cultural melting pot.

Sir T: I remember a lot of different ethnic families in my neighbourhood that would stay in their own little bubble so to speak. I guess it was from being afraid of what people would do or say.

Tom: I felt that today we are constantly bombarded with images of Muslim violence, inciting in some, an omnipresent fear and hatred toward Islam.

Tom: We knew that hate crimes were happening in Muslim communities, but we weren’t aware of the growing prevalence and viciousness such as stories of pigs heads thrown on mosque doorsteps. We allude to this in our story, showing misguided anger before revelation.

Tom: Historically, the embracement of multi-cultural communities has been a key point-of-difference for New Zealand, however today the landscape is changing – which we explore in this video.

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