Let me start by saying I respect Kanye West. He beat the odds to become one of the most successful Black Men ever and I admire his zeal because with all the fame and money he already had, he didn’t sit back but chose to, and still pursues various projects including his Fashion Line, which I unfortunately can’t afford but so many other people can. I don’t like all of his music but I like some songs so I don’t want any Kanye diehard Fans coming for me! All that said, Kanye is wrong about Slavery being a choice and he should not be surprised by all the outrage his latest comments drew. I think all right-thinking members of society know that Slavery was one of the darkest periods of history. By the way, does anyone know the very first person who came up with the idea of Slave Trade? I’m curious! Sadly, Slavery continues to this day although not at the scale of the Slave Trade Era. The very idea of enslaving another human being is wrong and should never have happened but it did. It’s easy for people to say that Black People (since it’s the race that was most affected by Slave Trade) should just move on because Slavery happened 400 Years ago but that is too simplistic. It’s like telling someone who just lost their most valuable possessions to “not cry about it and just get on with life.” I don’t know what would have happened if Slavery hadn’t been practiced. I do know that it caused a lot of pain and injustice. What Kanye and other people who think we should all stop whining about the past forget is that Slavery was brutal. Kanye may be a hustler but the struggles he faces today are nothing compared to what Slaves had to endure. People were forced to leave their families, shackled and chained like dogs before being forced to trek thousands of miles and then bundled onto Slave ships. The lashing, the abuse, the unpaid labour on Slave “Masters” and owners’ Cotton and Coffee Farms... Kanye would not have survived it all. Many of us wouldn’t have. You don’t have to be a descendant of slaves to empathize. Like I said, if your heart’s right, you know Slavery was wrong. Europe and America were built on the backs of Slaves and that is why so many people are offended when comments like Kanye’s are made because even with stark reminders of what generations of innocent men and women had to sacrifice for just being Black, there are those who still find us unworthy of living in “their” communities. There are times I wish God had simplified everything by creating just one race. I guess it’s too late for that. Kanye thinks School Curricula needs to be changed to focus less on injustices of the past and more on prospects of the future. I disagree. That is how History repeats itself. The minute we stop talking about it, people will forget!
