Akon: 'America was never built for black people'

Senegalese-American artist Akon On Talk to Al Jazeera,shares his views on race relations in the US and speaks frankly about why he thinks African-Americans should understand Africa better.

He says: "Pick a project in New York, for instance: that's a five-star hotel compared to the environment I came up in…. They actually get money from the government, there actually are programmes that help the impoverished and the poor, and you get food stamps. I mean, they have it good compared to Africa."

"There's a huge difference in how the government allocates funds for the poor in Africa, the environment is not even left and right. If these groups were to be taken from the environment where they are now to the same 'equal' environment in Africa, they would be crying to come back to America.”

"How many African-Americans do you know actually consider Africa as a vacation spot? Not one... Even just for knowledge, just to know where they came from, just to get an idea of what that is; there is so much fear instilled in them that they wouldn't even want to go there to visit. You mention Africa, they start shaking."