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Akon is catching some serious heat after his questionable comments about slavery in an interview on VLAD TV.
The Senegalese artist believes that the people of Senegal no longer think about slavery because they have already been able to “overcome” the horrors of it, unlike Black people in America.
“In Senegal, we’ve kind of overcome the thought of slavery, we don’t even think about it the only time we think about it, honestly, is when we’re doing tours at Goree Island. Outside of that, people have lived and moved way beyond the slavery concept,” Akon said.
He went on to suggest that Americans tend to blame things on the past instead of moving on.
“I think it’s the art of just letting the past go and moving towards the future,” he continued. “And I think, in the U.S., they have this stigma of just not letting go of the past and blaming the past on every mishap or, you know, disappointment. I think as long as you hold onto that past, there’s a lot of weight that you carry with you everywhere you go. It’s hard to move forward and move fast when you got a weight on your back. You just gotta let it go.”
Akon continued to say Black Americans need to grasp a better understanding of their worth and simply accept that America will never make up for their racist history.
Akon, a Senegalese, sitting down talking to DJ Vlad, a Russian, about how Black Americans should handle slavery feels a bit off to me. It felt off to most Black Americans too. They let Akon know via Twitter.
