Kofi Kingston is very aware of the impact his WWE Championship win has had on the African-American community.
During a recent interview with Steve Fall for NBC Sports Boston, Kofi Kingston spoke about inspiring Black kids as a WWE Superstar and taking pride in having that responsibility. Kofi said that his role as the first African-born WWE Champion definitely had an impact and it’s not something he takes lightly.
“It’s one thing to say ‘Anything is possible,’ because, in theory, anything is possible. If you believe in yourself, you can be the one who breaks the ground, and you can be the first person to do something. But it’s a whole other thing to say that anything is possible because it actually happened. So for me to be at the forefront of winning the WWE Championship, there were just so many videos that were sent to me on social media and messages that I got, even still to this day,” Kofi explained. “We were in New Orleans, and it was me and my son walking in and one of the security guards stopped me and talked about how impactful that moment was, to him watching it as an adult, and you have all these videos of people watching it with their kids.”
Kofi said that his title win and success establishes a sense of hope, noting that he excelled in a position he shouldn’t have been in.
“I’m not like 6’8, I’m not 300 pounds, I don’t have a strapping chest, as a matter of fact, I have pretty much all sternum, you know, no muscle here. My legs are very skinny. I’m not as big as the other people on the roster. When I was a kid and I told people I wanted to be a WWE superstar, they laughed at me because I just didn’t look the part. And now you fast forward all these years later, and I’ve been able to have so many incredible accolades, so many awesome moments, winning the WWE Championship among other championships. I think someone had put it on Twitter, I don’t keep count,” he pointed out, “but they said I’ve had 22 different title reigns between all the tag team and United States, and, WWE Championship and Intercontinental Championship run. So this is all from a guy who wasn’t supposed to be here, you know?
“So, yes, a long-winded answer to your question is yes, it’s a very important responsibility for me to make all kids believe that they can be whatever they want to be. But again, particularly African American kids, to be that shining example of, if you push yourself, if you work hard, if you believe in yourself, and you’re able to focus on what it is that you want to do, then you can do it. Just go out and do it, you know? So, yes, yes. It’s very, very important. I think that the impact, judging by the messages that I’ve gotten,” Kofi noted, “and I’m sure a lot of messages that I haven’t gotten, the impact has been very huge in the African American community.”
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