Queen Latifah Tackles Modern-Day Racism at 2016 VH1 Hip Hop Honors

Reflecting on the recent violent events that happened in Dallas, Minnesota and Louisiana, rapper Queen Latifah discussed the existence of modern-day racism during the VH1 Hip Hop Honors: All Hail the Queens.

The televised event was organized to pay tribute to the women in the hip hop industry. Aside from Queen Latifah, other artists who were honored during the event include Missy Elliot, Lil' Kim and Salt-N-Pepa, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Aside from highlighting the success of the female artists, the event also served as an avenue to address the recent events that shook the country, such as the shootings of Philando Castile and Alton Sterling in Minnesota and Louisiana respectively, and the killing of police officers in Dallas by a lone gunman.

It is widely believed that these violent incidents stemmed the prevalence of racism in the country. Alicia Garza and Darnell Moore, the founders of Black Lives Matter, said during the VH1 event that their movement is all about upholding the freedom and rights of people, and not about promoting violence.

Queen Latifah, who performed during the event with a tweaked version of the song "When You're Good to Mama," also talked about the existence of modern-day racism.

"We all know that the world and our world is really tense right now," she said according to Billboard. "It's a lot of tension. It's a lot of angst. It's a lot of hurt. A lot of pain. I'm hoping that we can somehow manage to channel all of these emotions that we have in a positive way and really do something to change out world."

"I don't care how much money or things I have, or Puff [Daddy] has, or Missy has, the ladies have, if I go outside and try to hail a cab and he passes me for the white woman standing right there - that racism is still alive and kicking," she added. "And we have to change that."

The rapper Common, who was also at the event, also commented on the issues and praised Diamond Reynolds, the girlfriend of Castile, for the way she remained calm and maintained her strength when her boyfriend was shot and killed by a police officer on July 6 during a traffic stop.

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