Vybz Kartel Slams ‘Fake Outrage’ Over The Abuse Of Haitian Migrants

Dancehall star Vybz Kartel blasted social media users for ‘fake outrage’ over the abuse of Haitian migrants in an emotional Instagram Story post yesterday. After disturbing images at the Texas border went viral this week, the embattled deejay charged that likes and comments do little to change the centuries-old situation: the disregard for black lives on “every continent…for the past 400 years.”

Instead of insisting on or lobbying for justice, performative rage is now a predictable response “until the next big event”, Kartel claimed.

On Monday, images of Texas border patrol agents rounding up Haitian migrants on horseback went viral, sparking slavery comparisons and humanitarian concerns. More than 10,000 migrants have camped out in Del Rio, Texas to open an asylum claim, though U.S. officials have indicated they will be deported back to Haiti.

White House officials and American news outlets spewed more diplomatic reactions, but the Fever deejay didn’t hold back, firing off at internet users sensationalizing serious matters. “You know very well that on every continent that’s how black people are/have been treated for the past 400 years at least!! so f—k you with the FAKE OUTRAGE!!!” he wrote.

Outlining what the term meant, Kartel blasted the cycle of social media outcries which ultimately achieve meager results.

“….And for those who missed what I said earlier about fake outrage… This is my definition: it makes you look like you NEVER KNEW THIS WAS GOING ON, like your SEEING IT FOR THE FIRST TIME and you PLAN TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!…till somn else happens ….then y’all fake outrage again,” he said.

Vybz Kartel has often spoken out against the victimization of black youths, both on home soil and beyond. The Haitian plight, however, remains significant to the outspoken deejay.

Back in May, Kartel uploaded three posts in honor of Haitian Flag Day which celebrates the creation of the Haitian Flag during the revolution that gave its people freedom from France, setting the precedent for slave uprisings in the US. “1st Black Republic. 1st Independent Caribbean State,” he reminded his 1.7 million followers.

During his recent prison interview with Fox5’s Lisa Evers, Kartel touched on how much global economic imbalance and lack of opportunities affected him also. “I thought rich people were rich, poor people were poor, and it couldn’t change. So I have to count my blessings to see that it could really change. So me beating that mindset, getting the opportunities that I got, I have to be grateful,” he said.

One could reasonably understand his anger at the current atrocities given that self-empowerment is the Worl’ Boss’ stock-in-trade — from his own brand of liquor (Street Vybz Rum) to heading the Portmore Empire. The entertainer and author has long asserted that the real game-changer is opportunities for the underprivileged, a case he made throughout his 2013 autobiography and similarly titled album, The Voice of the Jamaican Ghetto.

On the album’s opener, Self-Empowerment Interlude, lecturer and activist Louis Moyston is heard saying, “the education that we get ah miseducation. It teach we fi work inna people offices and plantation. It never teach we fi deal wid anything fi weself. Nobody nah go transform your life. Is not no IMF, no JLP, no PNP, is you di likkle black youth haffi go start get serious about self-transformation.”