Bling and blood
There’s a 2006 documentary still making the rounds, deserving of your attention. Bling covers the connection between many rappers’ obsession with diamonds and the inhumane conditions of the many workers who mine them in Africa (Kanye West’s “Diamonds in Sierra Leone” was also part of this wake-up call). One true believer is now rapper/bling entrepreneur Paul Wall. His website now has a blood diamonds statement where he promises not to help exploit these workers anymore. In the film itself, he went to Sierra Leone and met some of the workers who didn’t even have shoes (he bought them some) and saw miners working naked in horrible conditions.
