If you’ve never heard of Wendell Edward Pierce, chances are you’ve seen him grace your television screen.
Today, the Suits alum used his platform to hit back at Kanye West, whose headline-making comments dropped to a whole new low yesterday when he fought with a TMZ staffer over the real cause of slavery, blaming the slaves themselves for their bondage.
“When you hear about slavery for 400 years … for 400 years? That sounds like a choice,” Kanye squawked.
Pierce took to Twitter to issue six brilliant tweets, calling out the attention-seeking rapper for “[using] the murder and holocaust of slavery for [his] own self aggrandizement,” noting that it “is at the core of [his] vile appeasement of white supremacists.”
It is clear that @kanyewest is being sensational for the sake of publicity. I could care less about that. But for you to use the murder and holocaust of slavery for your own self aggrandizement is at the core of your vile appeasement of white supremacists.
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) May 2, 2018
“You glorify those that murdered our mothers & fathers, raped our women, and swelled our numbers with bastards,” his scathing rebuke continued, also slamming West’s “embrace [of] those who inhumanely experiments on our bodies.”
You glorify those that murdered our mothers & fathers,raped our women, & swelled our numbers with bastards. You @kanyewest embrace those who inhumanly experimented on our bodies to watch the ravage of death for decades in Tuskegee.
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) May 2, 2018
His third tweet took a brilliant dig at the racist Christians in America, who “taught us a religion that they disgraced,” adding, “in the name of Jesus [they] bought, sold, tortured and killed in the name of God.”
You lift up those that taught us a religion that they disgraced. And in the name of Jesus bought, sold,tortured and killed in the name of God. Slavery wasn’t a choice, it was a crime against humanity without a denouement of Justice.
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) May 2, 2018
After rightfully calling slavery a “crime against humanity,” he implored West to visit various memorials dedicated to the memory of the men, women and children tortured for the 400 years that West suggested was their own prerogative.
You @kanyewest need to visit the new memorial of the lynching victims, Whitney Plantation of Louisiana, Goreé Island, the Slavery museum of Liverpool and learn about the suffering of this nightmare of human history.
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) May 2, 2018
In his final two tweets, Pierce makes one final heartbreaking request: that West visit the grave of Aristile Harris, his great grandfather, who lost all but his mother in the slave trade.
The visit the grave of Aristile Harris, sold as a nigger and a half with his mother, as he lost the rest of his brothers, sisters, and father to the darkness of separation, never to see them again. He was my great grandfather who created a family he lost to slavery.
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) May 2, 2018
Apologize to his spirit and the souls of all our ancestors who were denied the life of privilege you lead. When that is done, I pray the world chooses to forget you and the trite, monotony you call music.
— Wendell Pierce (@WendellPierce) May 2, 2018
“Apologize to his spirt and the souls of all our ancestors who were denied the life of privilege you lead. When that is done, I pray the world chooses to forget you and the trite monotony you call music.”
Whether intentional or not, Pierce’s emotional final tweet also carries an important message for the consumers of this world: stop granting a platform to those who don’t deserve it.
Seems like we all need to unfollow Kanye and follow Pierce instead.
Follow Salvatore on Twitter and Instagram.
