As the nation continues to grapple with the heartbreaking news of 9 innocent black churchgoers murdered in Charleston, South Carolina Wednesday night, prominent politicians, artists and pundits are offering up their thoughts. One of the most captivating commentaries on the terroristic act came from The Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who set aside comedy in the name of a scathing rebuke of America's undying racism.
Another passionate plea for healing, change and justice came from Nas, who spoke with Vibe Thursday via phone. The legendary MC offered his thoughts and prayers to victims' families and decried the racism that persists in our culture today, but took the majority of his time to speak on the problem of mental illness, its stigma in America and our continued failure in addressing it. Nas asserted:
Mental illness is something that I wish we could detect earlier on — from birth. So we don’t have to worry about who’s who? Who are we walking around? Who are the people that we are living around us that are sick? That really need help.
Turning to matters of racism in the 21st century, Nas remarked that prejudiced hate is "rotting America." He continued:
We have to live our life in this zoo. How do heal the people that are mentally ill today? How do make them more respectful of each other no matter what race they are? Racism is rotting America. It’s been rotting America since its inception. So this is a very serious time that we’re moving into in 2015.Prayers to the families and family [members] that had to witness such a horrific [thing.] My prayers are with yall.
Listen to Nas's full remarks to Vibe below and, if you can, take a moment to learn more about the 9 victims lost on Wednesday night here.
[via Vibe]
