By now everybody is tired of hearing/reading/talking about the Kanye West and Taylor Swift situation. I am too, even though it did make for a few hilarious youtube clips along the way (this is my favorite http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxKIcrDsJAs ). But this isn’t about that, it’s about how blatant and rampant racism is still around in this country despite what Fox News tells you. Because there’s no way we can live in a nation full of racism when the president is black, right? I was recently reading an article about the fallout from the K. West controversy at the VMA’s and it pointed out hundreds, maybe even thousands of twitter posts calling Kanye West a “nigger” and how he was just having a “nigger moment.” I was kinda left speechless like Chris Brown during his Larry King interview…”just wow, I can’t believe that happened…like wow!” Now, I’ll be the first to say Ye was out of line for what he did. You know you fucked up when the president calls you a jackass.
This brings me to a side rant. I’ve read a few blogs here and there that have said President Obama is a sellout for calling out Kanye West. So is Obama supposed to support what Kanye did just because they’re both black? Get real, the dude was/is a jackass. The pres was just calling a spade a spade (no pun intended).
So I think we’re all in accordance that what happened at the VMA’s was out of line and inappropriate, and Kanye should receive some backlash (no Kunta Kinte) for his actions. But just a few days earlier, a congressman from South Carolina named Joe Wilson interrupted a speech being given by the leader of the free world by calling him a liar, yet he seems to be getting more popular. He’s gaining respect and support for having the balls to stand up for what he believes in. Now correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that a president’s address is slightly more important than an acceptance speech at an MTV award show. The problem I have is no one condemns Joe Wilson’s outburst as having anything to do with race. Ye got a little too tipsy off the Henny and made a poor choice. I’ve done that plenty of times. But does that make it a “nigger moment?” Like this is something that black people are known for doing on a regular basis: hopping on stage at awards shows and interrupting the recipients. That would be like me giving a presentation at work and expecting some random white guy to interrupt my power point and scream “YOU LIE!”
For a country that’s supposed to be the melting pot of cultures, racism sure is a taboo subject. And because there are so many races and cultures, to be honest, it’s almost too easy to be racist in America. Most of yall won’t admit it, but when you’re boarding a plane and someone of Indian/Arab/Middle Eastern descent comes on your heart skips a beat or two. When the Virginia Tech shooting happened a few years ago, everybody was real nice to the Asian IT guys at work the next day. It ain’t right, but that’s the reality of the world we live in. But the problem lies in the fact that nobody wants to talk about racism. And if we can’t talk about it, we’ll never understand it. It’s really a social problem that should be looked at and examined in the same context as people study crime or education in America. Alas, the more diverse this country becomes, the more people will continue to try to bottle up racism and hide it, which in turn will only make matters worse.
The point I’m trying to make is none of the actions of these two characters should be attributed to race. That excuse for someone’s actions is played out like Iceberg t-shirts. It’s time to just accept the fact that some people are just plain stupid. They do things and say things without thinking them thru.
Questions? Comments? Was Beyonce’s video REALLY one of the greatest of all time? OF ALL TIME?
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