A Nigerian lawmaker is looking to school Kanye West on the realities of slavery.
On Thursday night, Senator Shehu Sani invited the Trump-loving rapper to visit the old slave ports located in Africa. The invitation was extended after ‘Ye spewed controversial statements that seemingly diminished the severity of slavery in America.
For those who’ve been living under a rock for the past several days, here’s what ‘Ye said: “When you hear about slavery for 400 years … for 400 years. That sound like a choice,” he explained on TMZ Live. “Like, you were there for 400 years and it's all of y'all? It's like we're mentally imprisoned. I like the word 'imprisoned' because slavery goes too directly to the idea of blacks.”
To absolutely no one’s surprise, ‘Ye was slammed with heavy criticism, with many people—including fans, celebrities, and historians—referring to his remarks as disrespectful and ignorant. Senator Sani echoed these sentiments, claiming Kanye “defecated on the graves of victims.”
“If @kanyewest thinks Slavery was a choice, we will offer him a free ticket & tour guide to visit slave routes and camps in Badagry Lagos, Ouida Benin Republic, Ghana & Goree Island in Senegal to ‘experience the choices in chains,’” the lawmaker tweeted.
Following the backlash, Kanye attempted to clarify his comments in a series of now-deleted tweets. He wrote: “Of course I know that slaves did not get shackled and put on a boat by free will […] My point is for us to have stayed in that position even though the numbers were on our side means that we were mentally enslaved.”
