Burna Boy References Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan To Support Controversial African-American Remarks
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Burna Boy has been under fire for some time now for previously suggesting that African-Americans don’t know their roots. The 32-year-old artist recently referenced Malcolm X and the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan to support the points he was trying to make.
The Nigerian star joined Complex’s 360 With Speedy to promote his upcoming album I Told Them…. He shot down the recent negativity that has come his way for his comments, saying that his goal is to unify people. “My mission is to bring us together,” he told Speedy Morman. “My mission is to build a bridge that can’t be broken, a bridge that should’ve always been there. So for me, that’s not really relevant. I don’t really look at none of that because I feel like when people say that, they have their own agendas.”
“There’s nothing I said that Malcolm X didn’t say,” he added. “There’s nothing I said that The Honorable Louis Farrakhan didn’t say. But, obviously, it’s Burna Boy saying it and he’s from Africa. All that’s beneath me. My mission and my movements [are] too divine for stupid sh*t like that.” Check out the conversation below.
"Why is it important that the diaspora come home?"
Burna Boy: pic.twitter.com/YUP5W5BYIG— ? @????????????? (@OneJoblessBoy) March 17, 2023
Burna Boy’s initial comments happened this past March. Activist Chaka Bars asked him why it is important for the African diaspora to come home. “Let’s use America,” the “Last Last” artist replied. “Why do you think the Chinese-American has their respect? The Chinese-American has a base. He knows he’s from China. The Italian-American knows where their grandparents came from in Italy. They know the first person from their family to come to America and start that line to make them Italian-American.”
“Same goes to everyone else except the African-American,” he added. “How can an African-American and an Italian-American be on the same field when,” before attempting to choose his words carefully and be “politically correct.”
Social media users responded en masse, saying he was ignoring the African slave trade and how Black Americans descend from slaves as opposed to African immigrants who chose to come to America. After seeing the backlash, Burna took to Instagram to clear things up.
Unity Only Way Forward For Black People, Says Burna Boy
Grammy-winning singer, Burna Boy, has decried the division among black people, stating that unity was the only way forward for the Blacks.
He made this known on his Instagram story on Sunday.
The singer wrote, "It's sad pic.twitter.com/8xHK4TaV07— Punch Newspapers (@MobilePunch) March 19, 2023
“It’s sad to see that in 2023 there are still such Black people who would prefer we stay divided and conquered,” he wrote in an Instagram Story. “Maybe it’s my accent or something but I never said you are African and not Americans. I also did not say Africa is part of Heaven. You deserve all the Land and reparations you want from America and I’m 100% in support of that.”
“All I’ve ever tried to do is make you understand that you have Africa too that loves you and I believe coming together as brothers and sisters is the only way forward for US Black people worldwide,” he added. “You work against the progress of our people worldwide if your goal is to keep us divided.” Check out the post above.
More from VIBE.com
