Lauryn Hill Rants on Racism and IRS Troubles
Lauryn Hill's looming prison sentence brought out her latest miseducation rant, this time taking aim directly at the IRS via her Tumblr.
The former Fugee star sets up her prosaic take down of institutionalized injustice by first tackling the subject of "reverse racism," which she doesn't believe exists. "The concept of reverse racism is flawed, if not absolutely ridiculous," Hill writes. "Most, if not all, of the negative responses from people of color toward white people, are reactions to the hatred, violence, cruelty and brutality that they were shown by white people for centuries."
Deeper in the history lesson, Hill explains how "spirituality and morality" were "replaced by capitalism," directly relating to her tax struggle. "I shuddered during sentencing when I kept hearing the term 'make the IRS whole' … make the IRS whole, knowing that I got into these very circumstances having to deal with the very energies of inequity and resistance that created and perpetuated these savage inequalities. The entire time, I thought, who has made black people whole?! Who has made recompense for stealing, imposing, lying, murdering, criminalizing the traumatized, taking them against their wills, destroying their homes, dividing their communities, 'trying' to steal their destinies, their time, stagnating their development ...
"Has America, or any of the nations of the world guilty of these atrocities, ever made black people or Africa whole or do they continue to sit on them, control them, manipulate them, cage them, rob them, brutalize them, subject them to rules that don’t apply to all?" she questioned.
MLH then describes the prosecutor in her tax case as a woman whose lack of empathy "sounded like the echo of the grotesque slave master."
She is due to check into prison July 8, and is one of several celebrities New Jersey tax authorities have taken to court recently. Fat Joe was sentenced to four months in prison earlier this week for failure to pay taxes on income he received from businesses he has based in the state.
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(Photo: Jason Miller/Getty Images for Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame)