It was May 1st and award winning Rapper, Songwriter and Fashion Designer Kanye West was about to stir up the pot on TMZ. Listen for yourself to what he had to say and then read some thoughts that point to a history that is contrary to Mr West’s comments…
Was slavery really a choice?
Blair L. M. Kelley is a Historian and Associate Professor at North Carolina State University
Kanye said slavery was a choice huh? So, so disrespectful.
— Blair LM Kelley (@profblmkelley) May 1, 2018
Haven’t watched the whole Kanye event today, working my way up to it. I will say, that a milder version of the “slavery is a choice” argument is made by uninformed people all the time. I’ve had young men in my courses say “they never would have enslaved me.”
— Blair LM Kelley (@profblmkelley) May 2, 2018
People aren’t aware of the alienation of people ripped from their homes, abused, walked hundreds of miles across Africa, sometimes so far they ceased understanding the language spoken around them…
— Blair LM Kelley (@profblmkelley) May 2, 2018
People don’t know the brutality of the slave castles were people were held on the coasts, branded still holding out hope for escape, or reconnection with loved one….
— Blair LM Kelley (@profblmkelley) May 2, 2018
Could they have survived the devastation of the middle passage, packed less humanely than animals below the deck of the ship, chained to people who were sick and dying?
— Blair LM Kelley (@profblmkelley) May 2, 2018
Not only did my ancestors and Kanye’s ancestors survive, they managed to make a way to make a new culture, remake family and faith. And in the process, make a culture so formidable that it continues to change the world.
— Blair LM Kelley (@profblmkelley) May 2, 2018
Slavery wasn’t their choice at any step. We know that freedom was always their choice, resistance was their choice when they couldn’t escape.
— Blair LM Kelley (@profblmkelley) May 2, 2018
Denigrating their lives at this point for attention and spare change is such an embarrassment.
— Blair LM Kelley (@profblmkelley) May 2, 2018
Karen Hunter is a journalist, professor, bestselling author and host of The Karen Hunter Show
Addressing the level of ignorance displayed by Kanye West is exhausting, but it has to be addressed. To ignore the ignorance, is akin to ignoring cancer. (We can ignore him by not buying his clothes, music, etc…but the propaganda has to be shut down! It’s dangerous).
— Karen Hunter (@karenhunter) May 1, 2018
Greenwood (Tulsa, OK), Weeksville (Brooklyn), Rosewood (Florida), Eatonville (Florida), Durham/BlackWallStreet (NC), Mound Bayou (Jackson, MS), and a dozen other communities were started by blacks after slavery w/o handouts…just vision/hardwork (and were destroyed by racism)
— Karen Hunter (@karenhunter) May 1, 2018
Dear @kanyewest, from @HISTORY: “Laws dictating when, where and how slaves could congregate were enacted to prevent insurrection and quell white paranoia. It’s estimated there were at least 250 slave rebellions in America before slavery was abolished.” #Haiti #Maroons. #READ!
— Karen Hunter (@karenhunter) May 1, 2018
Ava DuVernay is a Writer, Producer, Director and Distributor of Independent Film
According to @MemPeaceJustice, more than 4,000 black men, women and children were hung/lynched between 1877 and 1950. @kanyewest + @rkelly are using their heinous murders in tweets and press statements. Using our ancestors’ pain as punchlines. pic.twitter.com/DHlwIF5kLc
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) May 2, 2018
Shame on you, @kanyewest + @rkelly. If you want to have a REAL conversation about lynching, get at me. Until then, have some respect and dignity for the dead. The murdered. You’ve gone beyond embarrassing yourselves. You’re both in territory that you don’t REALLY want to be in. pic.twitter.com/LXci0F0umc
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) May 2, 2018
Rama Isibo is from Kigali, Rwanda
If it is true that Slavery was a choice then why did they have to whip people? Simple question @kanyewest
That one time I told Massa that I ain’t pickin cotton no mo’ #slaveryisachoice pic.twitter.com/Evm0cNlS1z
— Rama Isibo (@ramaisibo) May 2, 2018
