Vic Mensa Writes Insightful Op-Ed Piece About His Trip to Palestine

Vic Mensa sees racism through a different lens after his recent trip to Palestine. In a thought-provoking op-ed for Time magazine, the Chicago rapper wrote about his time spent in the country.

In the essay, titled "What Palestine Taught Me About American Racism," Mensa compares the struggles black Americans are experiencing in the U.S. to the Palestinian people who are living under occupation.

“For once in my life I didn’t feel like the n—-r. As I sat comfortably at a cfee shop, gawking at a group Israeli soldiers harassing a Palestinian teenager, it was clear who was the n—-r,” he wrote.

"My American passport, ironically, had awarded me a higher position in the social hierarchy Jerusalem than it did in my hometown Chicago," he continued. "As insensitive as it sounds, it was almost a feeling relief to be out oppression’s crosshairs for a moment, albeit a very short one."

Mensa also pointed out that he is not anti-Semitic and does not want his observations to be viewed as “an attack on people the Jewish faith.” The Roc Nation also compared the plight Palestinian citizens to that the people Flint, Michigan, who are still without clean running water.

You can read Mensa's op-ed in its entirety at Time.com.

Mensa's trip to Palestine is documented in his new visual for “We Could Be Free," which is from his latest album, The Autobiography.