Although Jay Z “didn’t sleep for two days” after the Trayvon Martin verdict, the rapper still maintains that our current generation of young people doesn’t see color, and that gives him hope for the eventual mitigation of racism in our country.
When Hov recently sat down with hip-hop journalist Elliott Wilson, he expressed his distress over the verdict passed down on July 13, declaring George Zimmerman in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin.
“I was angry. I didn’t sleep for two days,” he said. “We all knew there was still a bit of racism in America but for it to be so blatant.”
Jay also spoke about the prudence of Florida’s Stand Your Ground Laws, scoffing, “You can have a fight with someone and they’re running way, you can shoot them and kill them and you’re fine? What?! Come on. Come on, man.”
Despite his ire, however, Jay said that he thinks that the current crop of young people is much more evolved when it comes to racism. “This generation right now, they don’t see color in that way,” he said. “We’re a bit removed from those racist feelings because again, it’s hard to teach racism when your child is out [at] clubs. It’s integrated and the music we listen to is the same.”
Instead, Hov blames the “old guard and their old ideas and their stubborn ways and all that ego and that bullshit is still there, it still exists. You just hate to believe that.”
Those sentiments closely match statements made by U.S. President Barack Obama during a surprise address last Friday (July 19). After explaining what it’s like to be black in America today, Obama said of his daughter, “When I talk to Malia and Sasha and I listen to their friends and I see them interact, they’re better than we are. They’re better than we were on these issues. And that’s true in every community that I’ve visited all across the country.”
Both Jay Z and Beyoncé have been staunch supporters of Trayvon Martin during and after the trial, with the pair attending a rally last weekend in support of the slain teen.
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