Tammy Rivera Defends Waka Flocka’s Statements on Not Being Black

“Love and Hip Hop Atlanta” star Tammy Rivera sat down with Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning, promoting her single “All These Kisses.”

During the interview, they asked Tammy her thoughts about her husband Waka Flocka saying he isn’t black. Tammy explained that Waka immerses himself in books, and is always learning. She also further explained what Waka said.

Waka’s very knowledgable, and a lot of people don’t know that. He reads, and he absorbs information. You ever heard the saying, “People can have so much knowledge, it can drive them crazy?”

He’s not great at delivering [his message]. When he says he is not black or African-American, I think what he is trying to say is the system says we’re African-American. That’s what they labeled us as.

They say that Christopher Columbus founded America, and they imported slaves from Africa. But what about the natives that were already here? Some of those people were of color. All of them were of color. They make you think that they were just red people with feathers. Nah. There were people that looked liked my mom; who’s chocolate.

So when he says they gave us this system, the European education system is saying this is what it is… We all came from Africa. To me, every color comes from Africa, from black. It’s the motherland; it’s the first place.

But what I think he is trying to say is you can’t label me as an African-American if my descendants were already natives and already here on the land that you said was “Indian” land. But, what are Indians?

She also said that Waka “drives himself crazy” with everything he is learning, and gets really passionate. Tammy then explained how she views herself as an Afro Latina, as her mother is black and her father is Latino.

Check out the full interview below.