History Professor Breaks Down What Kanye West Got Wrong In Saying Slavery Was A Choice
An associate professor of history responded Tuesday night to Kanye West’s argument that black people had chosen to be slaves, providing some context about the brutality of the slave trade.
“When you hear about slavery for 400 years ... for 400 years? That sounds like a choice,” the rapper had said earlier in the day during an appearance on TMZ Live.
Blair L. M. Kelley, who works at North Carolina State University and has taught numerous African-American studies courses, said she has heard “uninformed people” make similar claims.
“I’ve had young men in my courses say ‘they never would have enslaved me,’” she tweeted.
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
So she decided to post a little history lesson.
“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,” she wrote.
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
She then referred to the slave castles of Ghana, in which people were held in windowless dungeons, or “slave holes,” before being loaded onto British ships and sold in the Americas during the 18th century. Former President Barack Obama compared them to Nazi concentration camps in Germany.
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
Kelley went on to describe the horrific conditions slaves faced, both while being transported across the ocean and after they left the ships.
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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
Could they have survived being sold like a good at market by people in a foreign land speaking a foreign tongue? Could they have survived torturous work, in scraps of clothing eating the food that was unwanted?
— Blair LM Kelley (@profblmkelley) May 2, 2018
She pointed out that survivors “managed to make a way to make a new culture, remake family and faith,” even after enduring abuse for generations.
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
Kelley ended her thread by coming back to West’s comments.
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
Class dismissed.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.