Here’s Lil Wayne’s Disappointingly Self-Preserving Thoughts On Racism
By now, you’ve probably heard that Lil Wayne finally spoke out about racism. With all of Wayne’s social influence, you’d think it’d be a good thing. But, maybe not.
The United States has a longstanding history of racism. Certain groups of ethnicities have had to deal with the outlandish social terrorism from others for literal centuries.
While several instances of open racism show themselves ever-present, Lil Wayne comments that racism no longer exists.
Such a statement might make you scratch your head, right? You might say Lil Wayne’s racism stance doesn’t make sense.
Just last week, high school footballer Rodney Axson decided to sit during the national anthem, after overhearing in the locker room some of his own teammate’s plot to call the other team “n*gg*rs,” as they mentioned, “with the hard ‘r’ this time.”
So, from where does Wayne’s racism argument come?
For the Love of Money…
According to Lil Wayne, songs reach everyone.
“My music is for everybody,” as Wayne specifically puts it, as reports Huffington Post Black.
And, that’s a wonderful thing.
However, Wayne is using this as the foundation of his argument regarding the non-existence of racism.
The source notes that Lil Wayne says racism doesn’t exist any longer because “white people listen to his music and attend his concerts.”
That, alone, dispels all factual evidence of racism, doesn’t it?
For the record, countering Lil Wayne’s music argument, white America has long-enjoyed black culture and entertainment.
America has always been fine with adopting black’s trends, hairstyles, music influences, etc.
You think Sammy Davis, Jr. didn’t have multitudes of white listeners and concert attendees? Muddy Waters? Marvin Gaye? Michael Jackson? Prince? Jimi Hendrix?
Does Lil Wayne really believe his racism comment?
According to Wayne’s interview with Undisputed, there’s a little more to the confusion.
“I don’t want to be bashed, because I don’t want to seem like I’m on the wrong side. But, I thought that was clearly a message that there was no such thing as racism.”
"My crowd has always been everybody." — @LilTunechi #WeezyOnUndisputed pic.twitter.com/dCcpQuqNTF
— UNDISPUTED (@undisputed) September 13, 2016
Lil Wayne’s Misguided Stance
Although you may have friends and associates from different ethnicities, it doesn’t collectively mean that all members of those ethnicities hold the same morals and values as your particular friends.
You can’t base systematic racism off your lone, personal experiences, especially if you’ve never encountered it first-hand. It doesn’t work that way.
It's wild to hear people like lil Wayne & Cam Newton saying racism doesn't exist when they've been discriminated against from the jump.
— T. (@TheyKnowTG) September 13, 2016
As aforementioned, Rodney Axson wasn’t sitting out the national anthem until he overheard the very people who were supposedly his friends and teammates tossing around racial slurs like a spare football.
According to Cleveland 19 News, the teammates didn’t know he was in the locker room at the time. So, they spoke unfiltered, racist banter.
When confronted, they tried to tell Axson that the “n*gg*r” comments didn’t apply to him because he’s a part of their team.
Interesting thought process, right? Suggestively, they implied “as long as you’re cool with us, it doesn’t apply to you.”
And, as soon as he didn’t stand for the national anthem due to their disrespect for black Americans as a whole, they started calling him racial slurs as well.
Warning: The following tweet contains graphic, racial expletives. Viewer discretion is advised.
Who's ignorant now? Is it still me? @MayellMichael @Mdraves @BHSMerrill #LoveYall pic.twitter.com/49Cz2VyYAn
— ?Rodney Axson ? (@KingAxson) September 7, 2016
If you look at his Twitter account, he has plenty of white friends, as well as a white girlfriend.
Yet, he personally had a taste of racism, even after asking his supposed teammates not to carry out their racially-infused plan.
Lil Wayne’s Conclusion
However, according to Lil Wayne, millennials are moving away from racism because it’s “not cool.”
Tell that to Rodney’s teammates. Maybe they’re unaware?
Or maybe Lil Wayne is thinking about self-preservation, instead of the moral good?
Obviously, racism exists in abundance. If a person turns his head away from a car wreck, the collision, damage, and aftermath still exist. All the person did was refuse to see it.
Overall, what are your thoughts regarding Lil Wayne’s racism statement?
[Photo by Jonathan Leibson/Getty Images]
