Paul Wall Says White People Accused Him Of Being A

Paul Wall opens up about the racism he’s experienced and why it only came from white people, not the Black community he grew up in.

Paul Wall‘s journey through Hip-Hop reveals a painful truth he’s carried his entire career: the only racism and identity struggles he’s ever faced came from white people.

Growing up in Houston’s multicultural neighborhoods, Wall never questioned his place in Black culture.

His best friends were Nigerian, Vietnamese, and from all over the world. He talked like his neighbors, dressed like them and listened to the same music.

But when he stepped outside his community, white people made sure he knew he didn’t belong.

“We’re real close to Louisiana, there’s a lot of Frenchmen in Texas. So, a lot of people might have thought I was a Frenchman from Louisiana, or they might have thought I was biracial or they might have thought I was Hispanic,” Paul Wall explained. “It’s always kind of funny where each community will kind of claim me as their own. Even though obviously I am white, the only identity issues like that or situations would only be from white people. Only racism I ever my life ever experienced was from white people to this day. They were very unaccepting of me for a long time.”

The criticism went deeper than just questioning his appearance. White people accused him of being a “race traitor” for hanging with Black neighbors.

They questioned why he was doing what everyone on his block was doing. They made him defend friendships that felt completely natural to him.

Police encounters added another layer to the struggle.

“It’d be crazy when we get pulled over by the police. They separate you and they they’d ask other people cuz when we get back in the car they’d always say, ‘Hey man, the cop asked me was was you white or was you mixed or was you black.’ And you know, thinking back, you can kind of see that the fact that I am white in that situation allowed us to make it out all right.”

Paul Wall’s resilience came from his family. His grandfather served in the military alongside Black and Hispanic soldiers who became his best friends.

His mother participated in sit-ins during the civil rights era. They taught him that loving Black culture wasn’t something to apologize for.

It was something to embrace.

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