Kanye West Delivers Moving Speech at BET Honors

The 2015 BET Honors aired last night (Feb. 23) and rap mogul Kanye West was honored with the Visionary Award. Over the years, Kanye has been ridiculed and called out for his many "rants," with many people believing he just likes to hear himself talk. Last night, however, we saw a humbled man deliver a very simple, but incredibly moving speech about love, happiness and race issues we still face in America today.

Before diving into his acceptance speech, Yeezy first took a moment to thank BET veteran Stephen Hill for bringing "the most awesome collection of classic, current and futuristic Black music everyday." He then shared a story with the crowd that his wife, Kim Kardashian, once shared with him. The late Robert Kardashian, Kim's father and the lawyer responsible for defending OJ Simpson, faced racism from many due to his decision to help a Black man. After having the word n***** written across his car, he told Kim, "One day, you may have a Black child. A beautiful, beautiful, beautiful Black child. And it's gonna be hard. You're gonna see how hard it is." According to Kanye, Robert Kardashian was right, as he touched on the issues him and his wife face because of their decision to be together. "The micro of is it that we focus on the different races as opposed to the macro which is the human race," said 'Ye.

As he continued on, Kanye took a second to relate the issue of racism to what Black artists and athletes face in America every day, saying "they" only present the idea of making it as a rapper or athlete to young Black men, rather than the idea of becoming an owner. "They would do anything they can to make it seem like a truthful idea is a stupid idea, or a crazy idea. Harriet Tubman said she could have freed so many more if they only knew they weren't free," he explained. He then warned the crowd not to confuse possessions like his custom Balmain suit, expensive cars and living in gated communities with freedom. "It's the mentality, the slave mentality. When we all eventually become slaves to that car. Slaves to the perception. Slaves to the idea of being cool," said Kanye.

"Our power, our oil, since we don't own any oil, is our expression, is our influence," said Kanye. "Don't never let them take that away. And when we have the chance to express it and to influence, don't only just do it for us, do it for the human race."

[BET]

Filed Under: BET Honors, Kanye West

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