KANYE WEST STOPPED BY TMZ AND HE SAID A NUMBER OF CONTROVERSIAL
THINGS, ONE OF THEM IS ABOUT SLAVERY, HE SAYS IS A CHOICE.
WE HAVE A VIDEO FROM TMZ, LET'S TAKE A LOOK.
YOU HEAR ABOUT SLAVERY FOR 400 YEARS, FOR 400 YEARS?
THAT SOUNDS LIKE A CHOICE.
IT WAS THERE FOR 400 YEARS AND IT IS ALL OF Y'ALL?
IT IS LIKE, WE ARE MENTALLY IN PRISON.
I LIKE THE WORD PRISON
BECAUSE SLAVERY GOES TO DIRECT TO THE IDEA OF BLOCKS.
IT IS LIKE SLAVERY, HOLOCAUST, HOLOCAUST JEWS.
SLAVERY IS
SO PRISON IS SOMETHING THAT UNITES US IS ONE RACE.
BLACKS AND WHITES BEING ONE RACE, THAT WE'RE THE HUMAN RACE.
SO BEFORE I THOUGHT OVER TO THE PANEL, I WANT TO APPLY A
LITTLE BIT MORE CONTEXT BECAUSE I WAS JUST KANYE WEST WAS EVEN
SORT OF TERMS OVER TO THE NEWSROOM AT TMC AND VAN LATHAM
WHO IS A WRITER RESPONDED AND THIS IS WHAT HE SAID:
YOU ARE ENTITLED TO BELIEVE WHATEVER YOU WANT BUT THERE
IS REALLY CONSEQUENCE BEFORE EVERYTHING YOU WERE TO SEND
WHY YOU'RE BEING MUSIC AND BEGIN ARTIST AND LIVING THE LIFE
FIGURE OF OUR BY BEING A GENIUS, THE REST OF US IN SOCIETY
HAVE TO DEAL WITH THESE THREATS TO OUR LIVES WHO HAD TO
DEAL WITH THE MARGINALIZATION THAT HAS COME FROM THE 400
YEARS OF SLAVERY THAT YOU SET FOR OUR PEOPLE WAS A
CHOICE, ENDING BY SAYING THAT HE WAS DISAPPOINTED, APPALLED,
AND UNBELIEVABLY HARD BY THE FACT THAT YOU HAVE MORPHED
INTO SOMETHING THAT, TO ME, IS NOT REAL.
SOME REALLY POWERFUL WORDS.
THIS IS GOING ABSOLUTELY VIRAL RIGHT NOW.
WHAT WAS THE RESPONSE AND I SAW THIS?
I KNOW THIS IS SORT OF A BREAKING STORY THAT WE GOT
JUST FOR THE WINTER TAPE.
WHAT DID YOU THINK?
I THINK KANYE IS REALLY TRYING TO SELL AN ALBUM AND I
THINK THIS IS A SOCIAL EXPERIMENT, I HOPE, AND HE IS
TRYING TO SEE IF HE CAN GO AS FAR AS HE CAN GO AND STILL GET
PEOPLE TO BUY HIS ALBUMS AND SHOW PEOPLE THAT HE OWNS A.
LIKE I SAID LAST TIME, AND I GOT REALLY ANGRY ABOUT AND THEN I
STARTED THINKING AND REFLECTING AND I AM LIKE WHY IS KANYE
WEST, DOES HE MATTER?
HE DOESN'T.
HE DOES NOT MATTER IN THE LIVES OF ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO
HAVE TO GO TO WORK AND ALL OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE
SUFFERING THE EFFECTS OF THE SYSTEMIC OPPRESSION THAT
HAS BEEN IN PLACE FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS, WHICH IS NOT A FIGMENT
OF ANYBODY'S IMAGINATION AND IT WASN'T A DECISION OR A CHOICE.
IT SEEMS TO ME LIKE IT IS KANYE WEST CHOICE TO BE MENTALLY
AND PRESENT RIGHT NOW WITH THIS IDEOLOGY THAT HE IS TRYING
TO DROP ON THE YOUNG MINDS WHO ARE IMPRESSIONABLE AND
LISTENING TO HIM.
AS FAR AS BEING DISAPPOINTED, WE REALLY HOLD HIM TO A HIGH
STANDARD AND REALLY KEEP GIVING HIM A MICROPHONE AND I JUST
THINK THEY NEED TO CUT KANYE'S MICROPHONE OFF BECAUSE LIKE I
SAID LAST TIME, WHEN KANYE'S WE DID A PICTURE OF HIS HOME AND
TWEETED ABOUT HIS TESLA, HE IS COMPLETELY DISCONNECTED FROM THE
STRUGGLE THAT EVERY SINGLE PERSON ON THE PLANET WHO IS
WORKING TO LIVE ANOTHER DAY, HE IS BASKING IN HIS WEALTH AND
PRIVILEGE AND HE IS COMPLETELY DISCONNECTED TO THE
EVERYDAY EXPERIENCE OF THOSE OF US WHO HAVE TO GO TO WORK
AND REALLY LIVE IN REALITY.
DO YOU THINK THAT VAN LATHAM'S WORDS REALLY WELCOME UP?
IT SEEMED LIKE A NOT MOMENT, HOW INCREDIBLY BOLD THAT MUST'VE
BEEN TO JUST END UP IN THIS WORKROOM AND ADDRESS KANYE WEST
I WAS INCREDIBLY MOVED BY HIS STATEMENTS BECAUSE HE WAS IN A
WORKSPACE AND HE TAKE IT UPON HIMSELF TO ENTER BEING IN THIS
MOMENT WHEN THE REST OF THE TMC TEAM WAS JUST LISTENING TO HIM
WITHOUT REBUKE, AND SO I REALLY WANTED TO SEE THE INTERACTION
AFTER KANYE CAME UP TO HIM AND APOLOGIZE, BUT APOLOGIZED
AND THEN WHAT?
APOLOGIZE THAT HE FELT HURT AND THAT WAS IT?
I COULD NOT AGREE WITH YOU MORE.
I THINK THIS IS A PRODUCT ALSO OF OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM.
WE FOCUS AND EMPHASIZE MORE ON OPINIONS OVER CURIOUS QUESTIONS.
WHAT IS HE TWEETING ABOUT IN TERMS OF HISTORY?
400 YEARS, HE IS A RACING ALL THE SLAVE REBELLIONS, ALL
OF THE NOT TURN HER, ALL OF THE HARRIET TUBMAN'S.
HE IS A RACING THE WHITE ABOLITIONISM AGAINST
SLAVERY LIKE JOHN BROWN AND SACRIFICE THEIR LIVES.
AND IN THE PERIOD AFTERWARDS THAT HISTORIANS CALLED SLAVERY
BY ANOTHER NAME, THE RISE OF THE PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, THE
WAY THIS INCLUDED INNER LAWS AND HOW JIM CROW RISES UP AS WELL,
SO THIS MAN IS JUST LITERALLY SPEAKING FROM THE HIP AND WE'RE
LISTENING TO HIM AND I THINK THAT IS ABSOLUTELY THE ISSUE,
WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SAY, I DO NOT WANT TO GIVE IT A
MICROPHONE.
FOLKS CAN GIVE IT TO HIM AND I KNOW WE ARE TALKING ABOUT
HIM TOO, BUT IT IS BECAUSE HIS STATEMENTS ARE SO
IRRESPONSIBLE, THEY DO HAVE CONSEQUENCES AND THE RIGHT
WING IS GOING TO USE AS FODDER AND IT IS GOING TO BE SUCH
A DEVASTATING BLOW JUST FOR PROMOTION.
HE IS SO BIG ON FREE THOUGHT, IT HAS BEEN HIS MAIN
NARRATIVE THAT HE IS PUSHING RIGHT NOW.
YOU CANNOT STIFLE MY FREE THOUGHT, THIS IS
FREETHINKING, I LOVE PEOPLE WHO THINK FREELY.
YOU HAVE TO RECOGNIZE THAT THIS BREED DIES BEING USED AS JUST
UPON FOR A SIDE THAT WOULD SERVE TO JUST FURTHER MARGIN NOT
MARGINALIZED HIS COMMUNITIES I DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW HE IS NOT
SEEING THAT AND NOT BEING MANIPULATED AND HOW WHEN YOU SEE
DONALD TRUMP CALLING CONNIE WITHOUT A RALLY AS HE IS
THE SPOKESMAN FOR WHATEVER CAUSE, HOW HE IS BEING A PUPPET.
HE MENTIONED BLACKS AND LATINOS BUT IT IS CONTRADICTORY.
IT IS CONFLICTING.
WHEN HE WAS TRYING TO DO HIS CLOTHING LINE HE WAS
TALKING ABOUT HOW RACISM, REMEMBER?
PLACE HE WAS MARGINALIZED.
IT IS JUST WHEN IT IS CONVENIENT.
WHATEVER THE WIND GOES AND EVERYBODY KEEPS FALLING FOR IT.
HE JUST TALKED ABOUT RACISM TODAY.
HE WAS TALKING ABOUT RACISM.
RACISM IS A RESULT OF SLAVERY, RIGHT?
SO IF SLAVERY DOES NOT EXIST, WHY DOES RACISM EXIST WHEN
IT PERTAINS TO YOU BUT NOT EVERYBODY ELSE?