Nigerian-American musician Jidenna lent his opinion on the recent xenophobic clashes that have dominated news headlines and social media over the past couple of weeks and he took a moment to share a very important message to the attackers on both side: we are angry at the wrong people.
There's a lot to love about Jidenna. Not only is he an incredibly talented singer, with a sense of fashion to kill, and looks to die for, and a personality to beat; but he's also an exceptional thinker, and while it takes many by surprise, the 34-year-old knows a heck of a lot about Africa.
He proved this on Thursday afternoon when he phoned into The Best Drive with DJ Sabby on YFM and lent his thoughts on the recent xenophobic and gender-based attacks in South Africa that have inspired protests across the continent. The Classic Man phoned in from the USA where he spoke to DJ Sabby and Tshephi and it did not take him long to start bringing his point across when he said:
"I know that real lives are at stake. I know that our history plays a big role and I do think that the xenophobia that exists in South Africa is a direct result of apartheid. I see it in America, I see the same kind of seeds of mistrust and the anti-immigration sentiments being sown in the poor white minds of Americans, and our president is the latest person to enable that.
What is happening in SA is the very same message that Trump has pushed out and the message that poor white people have been spreading, in a majority white country in the same way that SA is majority black. So poor white people feel that Mexicans, and Muslims and other foreign immigrants are taking their jobs."
Jidenna equated America's own unique form of violent terrorism to that which has gripped South Africa in the last few days: Mass shootings.
"When you see mass shootings in the States, its majority-white shooters. The El-Paso Texas shooting for example, where a white shooter opened fire against people who ere largely brown and of colour".
He began to correlate the relationship between poverty in South Africa, which results in a lack of opportunity, with these violent crimes against foreigners and women:
"I understand it in the context of history. It is something that is the result of poor people not getting access to education, and that education not giving people access to good jobs and that is something you need to take up to the government. It is never a result of the immigrants.
Immigrant groups at large usually help a country become what it is. They build a country to what it is by taking on jobs that nobody wants to do. We have to spread a new agenda through a solid education program for xenophobia AND for femicide because these are the direct results of certain South Africans, especially men, who feel like they are not empowered and are rightfully angry but are not angry at the right people. They should not be angry at the women and the foreigners, they should be mad at the government."
What do you think of Jidenna's warning to South African people, did he hit the nail on the head?
Read Next: Jidenna lands in South Africa
Image Credit: www.Instagram.com/jidenna
There's a lot to love about Jidenna. Not only is he an incredibly talented singer, with a sense of fashion to kill, and looks to die for, and a personality to beat; but he's also an exceptional thinker, and while it takes many by surprise, the 34-year-old knows a heck of a lot about Africa.
He proved this on Thursday afternoon when he phoned into The Best Drive with DJ Sabby on YFM and lent his thoughts on the recent xenophobic and gender-based attacks in South Africa that have inspired protests across the continent. The Classic Man phoned in from the USA where he spoke to DJ Sabby and Tshephi and it did not take him long to start bringing his point across when he said:
"I know that real lives are at stake. I know that our history plays a big role and I do think that the xenophobia that exists in South Africa is a direct result of apartheid. I see it in America, I see the same kind of seeds of mistrust and the anti-immigration sentiments being sown in the poor white minds of Americans, and our president is the latest person to enable that.
What is happening in SA is the very same message that Trump has pushed out and the message that poor white people have been spreading, in a majority white country in the same way that SA is majority black. So poor white people feel that Mexicans, and Muslims and other foreign immigrants are taking their jobs."
Jidenna equated America's own unique form of violent terrorism to that which has gripped South Africa in the last few days: Mass shootings.
"When you see mass shootings in the States, its majority-white shooters. The El-Paso Texas shooting for example, where a white shooter opened fire against people who ere largely brown and of colour".
He began to correlate the relationship between poverty in South Africa, which results in a lack of opportunity, with these violent crimes against foreigners and women:
"I understand it in the context of history. It is something that is the result of poor people not getting access to education, and that education not giving people access to good jobs and that is something you need to take up to the government. It is never a result of the immigrants.
Immigrant groups at large usually help a country become what it is. They build a country to what it is by taking on jobs that nobody wants to do. We have to spread a new agenda through a solid education program for xenophobia AND for femicide because these are the direct results of certain South Africans, especially men, who feel like they are not empowered and are rightfully angry but are not angry at the right people. They should not be angry at the women and the foreigners, they should be mad at the government."
What do you think of Jidenna's warning to South African people, did he hit the nail on the head?
Read Next: Jidenna lands in South Africa
Image Credit: www.Instagram.com/jidenna