Thanks to Kanye West, #IfSlaveryWasAChoice Is Trending on Twitter—And It's Comedy Gold
During the past week, we’ve held our breath as we’ve scrolled through our Twitter timelines, fearful of once again being subjected to the verbal antics of Kanye West. From his calling Donald Trump his “brother” to his praising problematic far-right talking head Candace Owens, let’s just say it’s been a week. Now, in true Sunken Place fashion, just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse, West sat down with TMZ Live Tuesday to declare that 400 years of slavery was “a choice.”
Kanye was, obviously, gathered up for his reductive remarks, first by TMZ Newsroom staffer Van Lathan, who told the rapper “I think what you’re doing right now is actually the absence of thought.”
It didn’t take long for Twitter to jump on board, highlighting the sheer absurdity of Kanye’s words in hilarious ways (let’s be real—Black Twitter can find a way to bring humor to almost any situation—I’m sure we’ll tweet through the apocalypse). Late Tuesday night the hashtag #IfSlaveryWasAChoice took over our Twitter feeds, and let’s just say, it’s the laugh we all needed. Behold:
Nope.. I got plans..
What better way to enjoy the sweltering cotton fields than with some tunes from Mr. West himself?
Because hey, who doesn’t love a good talent show?
Watch yourself.
Ah, yeah, gonna have to pass on that one. $15 an hour or nothing.
When Massa clearly woke up on the wrong side of the bed..
West has since tried to clarify his statement by comparing himself to both Harriet Tubman and Nat Turner. We’ll just let you ponder that one.
Completely canceling Mr. West this week has been a tough pill to swallow, but it’s comforting to know that we can always count on Twitter to lessen the blow of our faves’ sorely disappointing us.
It’s unfortunate that the man who once took to national television to declare that “George Bush doesn’t like Black people” after Hurricane Katrina in 2006 is now blaming that same community for 400 years of oppression, and journalist and academic Marc Lamont Hill said it best when he joined the discussion last night: There has NEVER been a moment in history when Black people didn’t resist slavery.