San Diego singer-songwriter explores ethnicity, social justice

Last year, singer-songwriter, visual artist and music producer Lecx Stacy released a song decrying police brutality after witnessing the footage of the killing of George Floyd, a Black man who was killed during an arrest in Minnesota after a police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.

“This is a song that was written as an internal processing and grieving of police brutality and supremacy,” he told Equate Magazine. “Music is a central form of displaying solidarity. I am not expecting change out of releasing a song, but I am hoping to add my voice to the community of people who are choosing to stand up against injustices.”

In college, Stacy executive produced the critically acclaimed album (“Bad Sports”) of his college roommate, Jean Dawson. It was also around that time when Stacy came to a deeper understanding of the ways that systems and institutions have been built to sustain marginalization and oppression, and that consciousness sometimes converges with his art.

Stacy’s upcoming debut album is described as an intimate and emotional look at exploring ethnic identity. The San Diegan and firstgeneration Filipino American has incorporated his family and his culture into his art, along with donating some of the proceeds from his music to organizations that provide legal, medical and other forms of support to people protesting injustice. Currently dividing his time between San Diego and Los Angeles, Stacy took a few moments to talk about the intersections of his art, his identity, and how he sees and understands the world around him. (This email interview has been edited for length and clarity. For a longer version of this discussion, visit sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-lisa-deaderickstaff.html.)

Q: Where did your understanding of social justice issues first start?

A: I think I fully got a grasp of the gravity of social issues while I was in university studying psychology. Some of the really impactful courses included topics within multicultural psychology, sex and gender, as well as other courses outside of the field of psychology, like environmental studies. Growing up in a world like this, being exposed to all sorts of unjust situations and circumstances, makes it easy to take them for granted. When I learned about how these issues are established institutionally, I began to question these institutions we’ve been taught to accept.

Q: And what did that introduction do to the way you began to understand the world around you? How did these instances start to shape the way you understand and respond to social justice issues today?

A: It honestly caused me to look at the world with a bleak perspective. All of these issues that feel impenetrable by any form of reform. I distinctly remember learning about the Stanford Prison Experiment conducted by Philip Zimbardo (an experiment studying the psychological effects of becoming a prisoner or prison guard, in which volunteers behaved as either inmate or prison guard) and immediately understanding the ways that giving individuals authority over others is conducive to inhumane behavior. Courses within environmental studies taught me that many health disparities and marginalization of communities are embedded in our infrastructure.

Q: Your anti-police brutality song, “Crooked Smile,” was written in 2019 and was originally intended to be included on your album. What was going on at that time that compelled you to write it?

A: I had come to understand that our current state of capitalism, and many of the injustices it breeds, is upheld by law enforcement. This song, in particular, is about the inescapable and overwhelming feelings when confronting the fact that these injustices are interwoven into the fabric of our society . ...

Q: On your artist page with Heavy Duty Music Publishing, it says that the release of your debut album this year will be “a diary entry to express every emotion through an exploration of ethnic identity.” Can you talk about how, specifically, you’ve explored your own ethnic identity, and how it shows up in your music?

A: This exploration involved a lot of unpacking of generational trauma and learning (as well as unlearning) the effects of postcolonial mentality. I began to confront my own internalized biases and work toward rejecting beliefs that colonization has forced upon people of my ethnicity and others alike. During this time, I also read a book called “Brown Skin, White Minds: Filipino-/american Postcolonial Psychology (with commentaries)” by E.J.R. David. This book was crucial to me because it taught me more about my own heritage and history than any class I’ve taken. The exploration that followed manifested itself in my music in various ways.

Q: Last year, during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, former President Donald Trump began using anti-asian rhetoric to refer to and describe the novel coronavirus. Shortly afterward, acts of anti-asian racism began to increase, continuing into this year with attacks against Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) elders, and the spa shootings in Atlanta, Ga., last month that killed eight people. Have you had a chance to process any of this?

A: Anti-asian rhetoric has been an issue for far longer than we’d like to think and it is something that I process on a regular basis. I think back on instances like the Watsonville riots in California, which occurred in the (1930s), where hundreds of White Americans attacked and beat Filipinos and burned down the buildings that these Filipino people inhabited and owned. There’s a deep sadness and anger toward these events, and the people who perpetuate it, that has only gotten more intense over time.