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Kevin Mazur/Hand in Hand/Getty Stevie Marvel and Oprah
Stevie Wonder is heading to West Africa for a profound motive.
Throughout a recent interview with Oprah Winfrey, the 25-time Grammy-winner, 70, opened up about his future plans to reside in Ghana indefinitely — as a part of his efforts to protect his lineage of grandchildren and nice grandchildren from racial injustice within the U.S.
“I wanna see this nation smile once more,” he advised Oprah, 67. “And I need to see it earlier than I go away to journey to maneuver to Ghana, as a result of I am going to try this.”
When requested if he plans to relocate completely, the star replied, “I’m, as a result of I do not need to see my kids’s kids’s kids should say, ‘Oh, please like me. Please respect me. Please know that I’m necessary. Please worth me.’ What kinda [life is that]?”
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Getty (2) Stevie Marvel, Oprah
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RELATED: Stevie Wonder Pens Letter to Martin Luther King Jr. Criticizing ‘Lack of Progress’ in Equality
The star’s choice could also be influenced by a variety of causes — however it’s typically mentioned that dwelling in majority Black areas offers Black people a way of security, confidence, liberation and delight. Many argue that throughout the U.S., attending HBCUs (traditionally Black schools and universities) offers American Black college students the identical emotions.
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Stevie Marvel and Oprah
Marvel has been contemplating shifting to Ghana since as early as 1994, per the Orlando Sentinel. On the time, the “I Simply Referred to as to Say I Love You” hitmaker advised a Washington gathering of the Worldwide Affiliation of African American Music that he had fallen in love with the nation and “there’s extra of a way of group there.”
— Stevie Marvel (@StevieWonder) January 18, 2021
Final month, in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. day, the musician wrote an emotional letter to the late civil rights chief and addressed the shortage of racial development for the reason that battle for equality, which started within the U.S. within the mid-Nineteen Fifties.
“Pricey Dr. King, I met you once I was 14 years of age,” he started. “You have been a real hero and also you turned an inspiration.”
Marvel later mentioned, “It’s painful to know that needle has not moved one iota. For 36 years, we have had a nationwide vacation honoring your birthday and ideas, but you wouldn’t consider the shortage of progress. It makes me bodily sick. I’m sick of politicians looking for a straightforward resolution to a 400-year drawback.”
The vocalist concluded his letter with a call-to-action for “all these within the Senate to talk reality to what they know they will bodily see and start the steps in the direction of accountability, forgiveness after which therapeutic.”