GOOD MONDAY MORNING, P.O.U.!
This week’s series was inspired by the ignorance of the “King of the South”, rapper/actor/Becky protector T.I. aka Clifford Harris.
In an August 2014 interview with Complex magazine, T.I. defended his Australian protege, Iggy Azalea, against charges of racism with the following:
“That pisses me off, simply because they don’t have any real substantial grounds,” he said. “‘I don’t like them.’ Why? ‘Just ‘cause.’ What do you mean just ‘cause? Since when do you get the right just to judge people? Who died and made you the emperor of Egypt? That kind of shit. And then the things that they accuse her of, like the racist stuff. That’s not even her. That’s not even in her. Me knowing her, knowing where she comes from—for real, the whole racist thing, that’s American—we forget, she’s not American. The whole black, white, color divided thing, it isn’t a part of her DNA like it is here in America. It’s just ignorant to me. In this day and age, to be a race of people who are demanding equality and speaking out on injustices and wanting to be treated fairly, to stand up and do the exact same thing in opposite to someone, unwarranted for no reason, it’s hypocritical […] I’ma ride with her. So, ya’ll go ahead. Anybody got a problem with it just know, it’s gonna be one ‘cause I’m coming.”
Okay, first of all, Egypt has a president, not an emperor, and his name is Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Back in the day, pharaohs ruled Ancient Egypt. Clearly, T.I. has spent too much time in the trap and not enough in the library.
Second, these tweets by Iggy shows that “racist stuff” is indeed “a part of her DNA”:
#WhenTipTweets I want him to also explain these Iggy tweets. pic.twitter.com/CW2ZzxDKYR
— deray mckesson (@deray) December 22, 2014
….as well as this line from “D.R.U.G.S.” where she refers to herself as a “slave master”:
Tire marks, tire marks / Finish line with the fire marks / When the relay starts, I’m a runaway slave / Master
And finally, for T.I. to say that racism only exists in America and not in Australia is just flat out WRONG. Which brings us to the subject of this week’s series: Racism In Australia.
First, we’ll take a look at the four-part PressTV documentary, Down And Under, which explores the racism experienced by Aboriginal Australians and immigrants. Later in the week, we’ll look at other examples of racism in Australia.
PART I