CUT AWAY! CUT AWAY!

Kanye West on the NBC telethon.

"Bush does not care about black people."

Oh my God, he's destroying public unity! QUICK CUT AWAY! CUT AWAY!!! Poor Mike Myers.

Back in reality, Kanye is guilty of overspeaking the truth. The racism on display for the past six days has been the most disgusting I've seen in my adult life. While I don't believe that "Bush does not care about black people," I think he'd have acted so much more quickly if the primary humanitarian crisis had hit his voters in Mississippi and Alabama. This isn't conjecture; this is how we've seen Bush operate. He hasn't even set foot in the Bay Area during his presidency, because he's only acts as president to his base.

That said, wrong time, wrong place, Kanye. Not during a fundraiser.

Other people are more negative about it than I am. Here's a mixed sample:

• Gsteiger: "Thank you, Kanye, for having the courage to talk about the most sinister side of this humanitarian crisis--even if it is during a telethon and even if it means freaking out Mike Myers."
• My Random Blog: "i think racism still exists, i think it always will as long as jesse jackson and al sharpton are around. thats all they focus on."

• Pop Culture Petri Dish: "And there's arguably some truth in what he said. But this was not the forum. A fundraising effort is not the place to alienate at least half the country." (Screencaps, too.)

• Reality Bites Back: "Your passion is admirable, and you may even be right. But you're a musician, big guy. In your business it's all about the timing. And dog, your timing sucks."
• Disaffiliates: "These people harbor a disease of mysticism - this disease blinds them with a hatred that is nearly equivalent to that which foments inside the mind of a radical islamist. The need to blame something, anything, for their insecurities and self-loathing in the face of something they can not explain trumps all other desires."
• Time for Living: "I do have a concern for people of all races, but when you begin to feel like it's wrong to point out the by-products of racism in this catastrophe, those that would have you believe that racism is non-existent or unimportant or excusable have won."
• War Liberal: "A rapper said something bad about the President! How awful! We obviously must talk about nothing else for the next six weeks, and anybody who doesn't condemn West is a race-baiting liberal commie!"
• Slowplay: "What a shameful display this was."
• just Greg: "You exploited a charity telethon for hurricane victims to make an outrageous personal attack against George Bush. You've succeeded further dividing our nation at a moment when we were coming together to help people in need. You've suceeded in making yourself a headline when the whole country was transfixed on New Orleans. Oh but that's right, your new album just dropped two days ago." Greg, if you think this was for publicity, you are absolutely clueless about race in America.

Kanye West. KayneWest.

Comments

[denisdekat]

Hard to knwo if this is racism, as Bush does not care for all Americans equally (of course - with the execption of his crony friends)...

[Pepper]

Well, I wouldn't expect Kanye to launch into a political soliloquy about the president's relationship with black people. But I find it odd that he moved so slowly to save a largely black populace because he's sent Ken Mehlman to speak to just about every black group lately. Talk about undoing all of Mehlman's speeches over the past few months. And where is Mehlman in all of this?

[alison]

To state the obvious: race is a very powerful thing in America. Whereas a black woman taking food from a supermarket after the flood is a "looter," in a same newspaper, a white couple doing the exact same thing is said to be "search for food." Americans in general have responded to the crisis with great compassion. That is not to say that race played no role in this whole ordeal.

[Greg]

I think perhaps you see the point my post but you'd rather not give me the benefit of the doubt.

If George W. Bush in some way failed in his responsibilty to the people of the New Orleans because he doesn't care about black people, then I think it is also reasonable to believe that Kanye stole the telethon to promote his 2-day old CD. There is at least as much reason to question Kanye's motives as Bush's. So why can't we? Who's going to lead up the inquiry? If we try to maintian parity with the Bush side of the story Kanye gets to investigate himself.

I won't claim to have any special insight into what the general population of blacks in America feel about Bush, Katrina or Kanye West. I'm just pointing out a logical fallacy.

What Kanye did was wrong even if he did believe what he was saying.

Alison, there is a post in my blog referencing a snopes.com piece on the whole "looting" vs. "searching for food" bit.

[seamus]

If George W. Bush in some way failed in his responsibilty to the people of the New Orleans because he doesn't care about black people, then I think it is also reasonable to believe that Kanye stole the telethon to promote his 2-day old CD. There is at least as much reason to question Kanye's motives as Bush's.

I don't follow this logic.

Here's my logic: Kanye is overstating it. Bush doesn't "not care about black people," but he cares less about them than he does about the people who voted for him. If he cared more about the plights of the poor, and black people, and poor black people, he wouldn't have permitted an unqualified crony like Michael Brown to run FEMA, and his administration would have reacted more quickly and strongly to this crisis.

What Kanye said is what many people of color were feeling in America. What he said was also deeply alienating to millions of Americans. He was TIME magazine's cover last week, and he didn't need to be this controversial for publicity's sake. He merely said what no one else was saying but many people were feeling.

I agree that the timing was inappropriate, but this wasn't about selling albums.

[Greg]

The hurricane hit on Monday and his album came out on Tuesday. Suddenly, people aren't thinking about buying CDs and the name "Kanye West" isn't anywhere to be found in any media outlet. Why is it so hard to believe that he and his Rockafella cronies hatched this plan to get Kanye West back into public view? Rappers can't be motivated by money?

But some people have no problem believing that the President of the United States saw a human catastrophy unfolding and said "Eh, screw'em. They’re black."

That is unbelievable. I'm not willing to write it off as "Oh, he was just expressing the feelings of African Americans." It doesn't matter how many people think that it's true it's still absurd. It might be just as absurd as believing Kanye spoke from a monetary motive but equally plausible.

Why do people assume the best of Kanye and the worst of Bush? It re-affirms what they already believe.