Vic Mensa’s non-profit organization, Save Money, Save Life, could be kicked out of their Chicago office because of a new racist landlord.
According to Block Club Chicago, the organization’s executive director Laundi Keepseagle has said that the landlord, who Mensa has identified as Jim Mason on Twitter, denied members of the organization access to their Chicago office because he claimed to be “absolutely disgusted” by Mensa’s “Camp America” music video.
The video depicts white children in detention centers sleeping under aluminum foil blankets and drinking out of toilets. These are the very same conditions faced by children currently detained at the U.S.- Mexico border as Blavity previously reported.
Mensa has always sought to use his platform to uplift Black voices and advocate for his community. Save Money, Save Life, is an organization dedicated to empowering youth in Mensa's hometown of Chicago by providing opportunities in the fields of journalism, media, and communications, according to the organization's website.
Keepseagle confronted the landlord for refusing to let the team into their office while standing in the parking lot next to the office building. The landlord claimed he would not give them access to the building because he considered the images in the music video to be“discriminatory” towards white people.
According to the "U Mad" rapper's Twitter posts, the Save Money, Save Life team was fearful that the situation would become “hostile” if they did not leave.
So today, were unloading trucks from @complexcon @ our office in Little Village when the landlord begins harassing the director of my nonprofit. He told her that I was a “disgusting pig” cause of the Camp America video and threatened if we didnt leave to be “hostile”.
— vino valentino (@VicMensa) July 23, 2019
Keep in mind that all the kids in the video were accompanied by parents and were hired professionally. Keep in mind that this man owns apartments all thru Little Village, one of Chicago’s largest Latinx communities, yet cares nothing about the oppression they face.
— vino valentino (@VicMensa) July 23, 2019
In the Twitter thread, Mensa states that Mason is a property owner in the Village, a well-known Latinx community in Chicago. The landlord also has a sign in his office that reads, "If you do not speak English, go back to Mexico."
Save Money, Save Life organizes programs that teach civilians living on the South and West sides of Chicago how to treat gun wounds and programs that teach marginalized communities about storytelling. It appears as if the organization will continue their work from a different location. Keepseagle claims she does not want to continue giving rent money to someone who does not connect with the mission of the establishment.
