Vic Mensa sat down with The Intercepted podcast to speak his piece on the impact of oppression around the Globe, beginning in his own background of Chicago. The broadcast, recorded at The Intercepted studios in NYC, was transcribed to fit the following Editorial format.
Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill begins his introduction of Mensa (to his familiar audience) by listing off his record of advocacy in the trenches: calling out bait-trucks, donating to and establishing community outreach programs, and leaving the boundaries of his home state to stand with the citizens of Flint, Michigan, during their ongoing water crisis. Scahill doesn't wince at the idea of labeling Mensa a "revolutionary rapper," and neither should you, at least in the modern sense of the word(s).
On the topic of Chicago, both Scahill and Mensa couldn't avoid addressing Donald Trump's political rhetoric concerning the issue of gun violence in the city. The host used the president as a segue to-and-fro the next subject line of Gun Violence in America: "Donald Trump, of course, loves to talk about your home city of Chicago," he stated.
"With Chicago?," Mensa responded quizzically. "Yeah, obviously, it’s racially motivated and you know, what’s so funny about it, this is the American way is revisionist history." Mensa attributed the same notion of "revisionist history" when he and Scahill spoke about the Israeli occupation of Palestine.
"So, what they’ve done is that they’ve taken the most effective elements from different oppressive structures, from American Jim Crow vibes to Apartheid," Mensa explained. "And they’ve made their.. concocted their own, you know, 21st-century version (of apartheid in America)."
Mensa explains the parallel between apartheid in Middle-East and Oppression in America with a few discernible examples, namely the double-standard of policing in the occupied territory, and how it relates to Black lives in America.
"Seeing things like that is crazy, you know, seeing that, learning that Palestinian kids in Jerusalem can get a mandatory minimum sentence for throwing stones. For throwing stones," he added. "And then you see five minutes later, a Jewish person walkthrough with an open carry M16, flip-flops, and a yarmulke."
You may not always like Vic Mensa's harsh tone or judgment on certain issues, but hear him out. Hear him out before you throw the book at him. The rest of the "The Intercepted" interview can be viewed here. Vic Mensa is the rare embodiment of a Global mindset, rooted in the culture of his home city.
