Kanye West is coming in for heaps of criticism following his comments about slavery during a TMZ video, but not from Herman Cain.
The author, businessman and broadcaster who made bids for the U.S. Senate and White House, is out with a post titled "Kanye says ‘slavery for 400 years, that feels like a choice’; here’s why he’s right."
"People are too busy venting their outrage with him to really hear what he’s trying to tell them," Cain wrote. "If they would listen, they would realize the message is empowering, and I know that because it’s the same message I’ve lived by throughout my adult life."
MORE: Kanye Blasted after comments about slavery
Did you know Kanye’s dad was an AJC photographer?
Cain's take is that Kanye was referring to "intellectual and emotional slavery" as opposed to actual bondage.
"Now of course, black people did not choose slavery during the period of world history when we were subjected to it. And Kanye is not saying we did," the post continues. "What he’s talking about is the mindset that persists to this day, one of victimhood and “struggle.” It’s one that still thinks, even after all these years, that everyone is out to get us, kill us, keep us down and marginalize us. And it’s one that insists on responding to this supposed state of affairs by imposing a rigid orthodoxy that doesn’t permit black people to think for themselves or make up their own minds about anything."
Kanye tweeted after the TMZ interview, "Of course I know that slaves did not get shackled and put on a boat by free will. My point is for us to have stayed in that position even though the numbers were on our side means that we were mentally enslaved."
You can read the entire piece here .
Cain is the author of several books, appears on occasion as a Fox News contributor and hosts a radio showing airing on WSB radio which, like the AJC, is part of Cox Media Group Atlanta.
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