Wu Tang member, RZA, managed to piss off tons of people during his appearance on “With All Due Respect.” From blaming the way black people dress for why we are killed by police (i.e. wearing hoodies or not appearing “properly refined”), to saying “All Lives Matter” (including poultry and cattle), some believe RZA may have lost his everlasting mind.
Let’s start with RZA’s thoughts on the Black Lives Matter movement. When asked the rapper said, “Of course, black lives matter. All lives matter. I stopped eating meat because their lives matter to me. I don’t think it’s necessary for us to grow a cow to kill it.” Yes, you read that correctly, RZA just compared injustice to being vegetarian.
RZA also discussed law enforcement, wanting to be a police officer as a kid, and how things have changed. He then went on to discuss how cops whose views have changed through fear, through stress, or through not being properly trained, are a problem. Things eventually went left when he chastised black people for the way they dress, saying they are bringing unwanted attention to themselves (i.e.: wearing hoodies).
“When you think about some of the brothers who are being brutalized by the police, you also got to have them take a look, and us take a look, in the mirror, at the image we portray. If I’m a cop and every time I see a young black youth, whether I watch them on TV, movies, or just see them hanging out, and they’re not looking properly dressed, properly refined, you know, carrying himself, conducting himself proper hours of the day—things that a man does, you’re going to have a certain fear and stereotype of them,” said RZA.
“I tell my sons, I say, if you’re going somewhere, you don’t have to wear a hoodie–we live in New York, so a hoodie and all that is all good. But sometimes, you know, button up your shirt. Clean up. Look like a young man. You’re not a little kid, you know what I mean? I think that’s another big issue we gotta pay attention to. Is the image that we portray that could invoke a fear into a white officer, or any officer,” he continued.
I’m sorry RZA, I love the Wu and I love you, but how exactly is what we wear the problem? White people wear hoodies and baggy pants and the police don’t shoot them down at record numbers. Why are there so many rules to staying alive while black in America? Sandra Bland wore a sun dress, what does this prove? I’m really disappointed by RZA, considering that as a member of the Wu Tang Clan, he was known to wear his share of baggy, urban streetwear.
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