Rapper Azealia Banks took to Twitter on Monday to urge her followers to push for reparations for African-Americans after the hip hop star seemed to realize just how much of America’s wealth came from slave trade.
“They Owe us Money,” one tweet read.
Another similar tweet read, “ITS MY MONEY, AND I WANT IT NOWWWWW!!!!!”
At first glance, people may be rolling their eyes and assuming that Banks went on yet another expletive-filled Twitter rant launched by her beef with some other artist.
This time around, however, her so-called Twitter rant was a bit more like a Twitter lecture.
While she still couldn’t help but sprinkle her favorite four letter words throughout the tweets, Banks actually did her homework on the topic before taking to social media to encourage other young people to pay attention to such important issues.
After tweeting links from several publications about other races receiving millions, and in some cases billions, of dollars in reparations, Banks pointed to an Atlanta Blackstar article that revealed 15 major corporations that benefitted from slavery.
She also referred to an article about the documentary Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North.
All of the articles provided Banks with a rather solid foundation for her argument.
“The current generations of children who are descended from slave traders just inherited their parents debt,” Banks tweeted. “And they need to pay.”
“It’s like, ‘here, we built this entire economic superpower of a country off of your backs, so here’s a nickel for bread….’ “ another tweet read.
Banks even said that her own cyber attack on Iggy Azalea wasn’t a representation of the “real” issues that people of the Black community are facing.
While many people agreed with Banks’ statement about the “Fancy” rapper’s appropriation of Black culture, Banks said there are simply bigger issues to focus on.
“At this point, it’s not even about race or cultural appropriation or any other that [sic] other annoying s**t because the black youth has a bigger battle to fight,” she said in a series of tweets. “More than we need to preserve our identity, we need to get our f*****g money. And I’m dead serious. Let these corny white people get their little black fantasies out, because they’re only put in place to distract us from the real issue. We need to get our money. F**k all this other sh*t.”
Banks explained that the money from reparations could be used to even the playing field when it comes to education.
She also told her white fans that she wasn’t “pointing [her] finger” at them, she was pointing it at America.
“I’m pointing my finger at AMERICA and the AMERICAN companies who used the money from slavery to build the very economy your ancestors [were] allowed to flourish in. those jobs could have been ours… but we were locked out of society,” Banks continued. “And yes! We have come a long f*****g way in this country as black people…But it still doesn’t mean we have forgotten that y’all owe us. The infamous ’40 acres and a mule’ after slavery has been turned into that $40 and a metrocard they give you when you get out of jail.”
Banks even shocked her fans when she claimed she would walk away from her music career in order to “fight for reparations” and “even the score once and for all.”
