Source: Erik Voake / Getty Paras Griffin / Getty / Getty
When Shekinah Anderson took to Instagram with tears in her eyes in reaction to the Gucci store and other Atlanta businesses being looted, the ignorance being spewed was so thick, it made us all uncomfortable. It was hurtful to see her cry more loudly over the destruction of physical property and white-owned businesses than the loss of Black life. Thankfully, Tory Lanez had the time and used his platform to calmly collect the hairstylist over the ignorance and antiblackness that riddled her commentary. In case you missed it, Shekinah took to Instagram Live to make an emotional plea to rioters in the Atlanta area.
“Y’all done been in them folks’ store taking they sh-t. Them people got a family. That sh-t not right. They ain’t did nothing to you. Gucci ain’t did sh-t to y’all,” said the former reality star. “Y’all can say whatever y’all want to say. They racist, I don’t wanna hear none of that sh-t. They ain’t did sh-t to y’all. Saks ain’t did nothing to you. They ain’t did nothing to you. Lenox Mall ain’t did nothing to you.”
Likely in disbelief like the rest of us, the producer and recording artist took to Twitter to indirectly address Shekinah’s comments.
“WITH ALL THE THINGS GOING ON …. IM SEEING THIS LADY CRYING OVER THE GUCCI STORE BEING BROKEN INTO ?!!?” he tweeted. “THE F-CK-NG GUCCI STORE SHORTY ??!?!??”
Tory’s strong reaction resulted in him and Shekinah connecting on Instagram Live to have a discussion and reach some level of understanding, but things escalated rather quickly. More than anything Shekinah wanted to reiterate that she is obviously not condoning that actions of the police and wanted to clarify that she wasn’t crying over Gucci.
“I don’t appreciate nothing the police did to us. That sh-t ain’t cool,” she said. “I don’t appreciate you saying the girl on Instagram was crying over Gucci. That’s not fair because I wasn’t crying over Gucci. I’m aggravated because I don’t appreciate how Black people are doing me.”
Tory made Shekinah aware of her tone so that they could have a more productive conversation, which is when things calmed down but only for a short period of time. Shekinah reiterated that she has an issue with police brutality but she doesn’t believe rioting will accomplish anything.
“F-ck Gucci. Let’s make that understood. I don’t wear that sh-t anyway,” she said.
Essentially, Tory tried to get Shekinah to understand that George Floyd’s death is not an isolated incident. It’s the result of larger societal structures influenced by racism and white supremacy. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that he didn’t get very far. Following their Live, he returned to Twitter to reiterate his main points and call out Black celebrities for their superficial reactions to the riots.
