David Banner has some interesting thoughts on the Black plight in America.
The rapper-turned-scholar recently appeared on TV One’s Sister Circle to talk about the impact of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the state of Black America. While there, he shared his theory on what deterred progress for African-Americans in this country.
“I personally think integration was the worst thing to happen to Black people, even more than slavery,” Banner began.
“Because, in slavery, at least, we knew that we were fighting to do something.”
The “Like A Pimp” rapper went on to note that the education system —in all its legitimate flaws— was a tool of white supremacy.
“We don’t even have any say-so of the way we teach our kids. Or the way that our children wear their hair when they go to public schools,” he said.
“What happened in the movement was it was never about integration, it was about de-segregation —breaking down the machines of white supremacy. And I think we spent so much time trying to integrate that we forgot who we were and the real purpose of us being here, and that’s ownership.”
To be totally honest, no one is going to cape for America’s school system currently led by a trust-fund-baby businesswoman. And there are countless studies that have talked about the school-to-prison pipeline. But to say that slavery —in all its demoralizing complexities and destruction on an entire continent and its lineage— was more tolerable than integration is insane.
Clearly, we’re just in a month filled with Black men saying insane things so there’s nothing new to see here.