Cardi B is giving credit to African-Americans for making it possible for Caribbean and Latino people to build lives in the United States.
The “Bodgea Baddie” artist shared these remarks with CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen during an Independence Eve broadcast on Friday (July 3).
This is not the first time the Bronx rapper has distinctly shouted out the historical contributions of African Americans. TheGrio previously covered Cardi B’s viral Dallas concert moment, when she told the crowd that Latinos “wouldn’t be living comfortably in this country if these African Americans didn’t fight for us.” She has also used her live performances to denounce anti-immigration policies, sounding off on ICE during the opening night of her Little Miss Drama Tour in Los Angeles, where she made clear her shows were a safe space for immigrant fans.
“I feel like the reason why Caribbeans like me, [my] family and Latinos and Hispanic people, the reason why they could thrive in this country is because Black African-Americans fought for everybody to be equal,” she said to Cooper and Cohen. “If it wasn’t for them, it wouldn’t be no Caribbeans thriving here. They were the ones that fought for this.”
Cardi, born Belcalis Almanzar, identifies as an Afro-Latina of Dominican and Trinidadian heritage. She added that honoring that history is not optional, especially given current efforts to remove it from schools.
“So I’m always going to be thankful and grateful for that,” she said. “It’s important for the history and it’s important to give flowers because somebody wants to erase the history out of these schools, but you got to keep these histories alive.”
She caught herself before going further. “Let me not get too political. I might get in trouble,” she said.
