Rapper Kanye West, in his first event since declaring himself a presidential candidate, ranted against Harriet Tubman on Sunday, saying the Underground Railroad conductor "never actually freed the slaves, she just had them work for other white people."
West delivered a lengthy monologue, touching on topics from abortion and religion to international trade before a crowd in North Charleston, S.C. On abortion, he said financial incentives could discourage the practice. "Everybody that has a baby gets a million dollars," he said as an example.
Wearing a protective vest and with "2020" shaved into his head, the entertainer appeared on a livestream of the event. Toni Fulton, who attended the rally, said, "In this Black Lives Matter spirit, to have a militarized outfit was, I don't know, read the room. It was weird."
She described his comments as an attempt to "take away everything that Harriet Tubman did" for African Americans.
Tubman is one of the most respected figures of 19th-century America. She escaped slavery and made more than a dozen trips to the South over the course of a decade, escorting hundreds of enslaved people to freedom, according to PBS. During the Civil War, she worked as a nurse and a scout for the Union, and became the first woman to lead an armed and successful military attack at the time, said Erica Armstrong Dunbar, a Rutgers University professor.
Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump wrote in a tweet to West that "a Black history textbook is in the mail. Read it, then learn to respect Harriet Tubman's legacy."
Brenda E. Stevenson, a professor of history and African American studies at the University of California at Los Angeles, agreed that West's comments were "woefully uninformed," but she stressed that his influence should not be discounted. "He's a celebrity and he has a great following of young people in particular," Stevenson said. "Some may be as uninformed as he is. … This country has a real problem with knowing African American history. So when you have someone who has a great following say something that really is not based in fact, then it really distorts the history even more."
Chelsea Clinton honors women athletes
Chelsea Clinton is extending her celebration of women to the world of sports. Clinton's "She Persisted in Sports: American Olympians Who Changes the Game" will be published Sept. 22, Philomel Books said. The latest of Clinton's bestselling "She Persisted" picture books will include sections on such athletes as Wilma Rudolph, Mia Hamm, and Venus and Serena Williams. Philomel also announced that a new series of books will feature 80-page stories on women that Clinton and "She Persisted" illustrator Alexandra Boiger previously honored. The monthly series begins in January with "She Persisted: Harriet Tubman." "My hope is to expand what young readers see as possible for themselves, their sisters, classmates, friends and our world," Clinton said. "And, I hope that all children — boys and girls alike — will continue to be inspired and empowered by [these] incredible women."
