Speech: Kanye West told audiences at The BET Honors on Saturday that his wife Kim Kardashian isn't a gold digger and revealed that her father Robert predicted she may one day have a 'black child'
Kanye
West paid tribute to his wife Kim Kardashian in a speech about racism
and interracial relationships at The BET Honors on Saturday evening,
while accepting the Visionary Award at the event.
The
rapper referenced a meeting with Louis Farrakhan Muhammad, Sr. - leader
of the religious group Nation of Islam - where Kanye said it was
'groundbreaking' to see his reaction to his relationship with a woman
'not of color' reports Jezebel.
'For
us to focus on the idea of love and not the idea of separation,' Kanye
explained, before going into further detail about the stigma surrounding
interracial relationships that he had encountered growing up.
'At the barbershop... I used to hear people always talking about, "Man you know when an entertainer get on, of course you know he gon' go and get a white girl and blah blah blah and a white girl gon' get a rich black dude."'
Appearing to reference his own rap song Gold Digger, he then added about his wife Kim: 'But I wanna say that my wife has dated broke black dudes. It got nothing to do with the money.'
Kanye then recounted a story about Kim and her late father, Robert Kardashian, after his Bentley was vandalized with 'n***a lover' scrawled across it, following his high-profile case defending OJ Simpson.
Important issues: Kanye addressed racism and interracial relationships in his speech on Saturday night
Food for thought: Kanye's speech will be aired in full when the show hits screens on 23rd February
Revealing how a young Kim had asked her father why he had reacted so angrily, he said Robert 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.'
Kanye added: 'So true enough, we deal with racism because there are different races. Or the micro of it is that we focus on the different races as opposed to the macro, which is the human race.'
In October last year, Kim herself addressed racism in an essay on her official website, and claimed that had always felt that it was 'someone else's battle'.
But the new mother admitted that recently she had 'read and personally experiences some incidents that have sickened me and made me take notice.' Adding: 'I realize that racism and discrimination are still alive.'
Family matters: Kanye revealed how Kim's father Robert Kardashian (pictured about with wife Kris Jenner and their family) had predicted that Kim may one day 'have a black child'
Doting father: Kanye West and his daughter North pictured in NYC last month
She was perhaps referring to an incident in February last year, when Kim reportedly left an event in Vienna after she was approached by a man in 'blackface' impersonating her husband.
Kim added: 'I feel a responsibility as a mother, a public figure, a human being, to do what I can to make sure that not only my child, but all children, don't have to grow up in a world where they are judged by the color of their skin, or their gender, or their sexual orientation.'
Kanye's speech will be heard in full when the shows airs on 23rd February.
Red carpet couple: Kim and Kanye attended The BET Honors at Warner Theatre in Washington DC on Saturday