How Kanye West Helped George Bush’s Legacy
By HHR | September 17th, 2009 | Category: Featured, General, HHR Contributors | 5 comments
by Lenny McAllister
Kanye West seemed like an American willing to take a stand against injustice when he spoke out against President Bush during Hurricane Katrina. Now after another public speaking snafu, it just seems like he merely spoke out of line – again.
When Kanye West “called out” President George W. Bush by saying that “…George Bush doesn’t care about Black people…” after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he was regarded by many as a hero that was willing to break live broadcasting rules in order to make an important statement about the status of racial injustice in this country.
With each subsequent, unrehearsed verbal misstep by Mr. West afterwards, however, Kanye has entered the realm of negative credibility, one that diminishes any kudos he may have earned from others.
And it is sad, too.
Not that I believe Kanye West when he said that President Bush was being racist in not coming to the aid of New Orleans in a quicker fashion – I don’t, but I know that we could be here all day talking about the protocol between local, state, and federal levels of government during an emergency of that magnitude, so I digress.
I believe that at the same level that same level as I believe Van Jones and the conspiracy of our government allowing 9-11 to happen; (you see how much flak came from both sides on that “theory.”)
However, Kanye’s proclamations on live television in 2005 made for interesting conversation about where we stood
as a nation regarding race. That dialogue, in many ways, was not only constructive, but also gauged how we stood as a nation in accepting other racial realities in the 21st century.
Like having a Black president.
Now that Kanye has used his “ad lib manifesto” points up on music awards (now acting inappropriately again at ceremonies repeatedly, including his famous incident with Taylor Swift for which he had to call her personally to apologize only after being called out by Taylor Swift and others), his infamous 2005 opinion seems more like an immature rant from an emotional guy than it does an educated opinion from an outspoken community leader that analyzed the facts and spoke out for justice.
And, again, that is sad.
Not that I’m a fan of Taylor Swift. I didn’t even know who she was until Monday morning. Nor was I a big supported of the 43rd president – me and the other 78% of Americans that watched him leave office in January with a 22% approval rating.
Now, perhaps Kanye didn’t help the former president directly with his actions on Sunday night, but he surely didn’t help the legacy of his (West’s) comments from 200.
After repeated incidents of speaking out due to feeling “wronged” – a lot including being “wronged” by Whites in some capacity – some may say that West overreacts with covert charges of racism whenever things don’t go his way.
That behavior, the logic would go, is what prompted the outburst in 2005, not some actual racist and devious plot against the people of New Orleans. It proves a dark mark on the benefits of the 2005conversation.
Racist motives are theories that we saw promoted at times with President Bush in power. It’s something we are certainly seeing with President Obama in the White House.
And although racism is certainly something that we have seen in America during both presidents’ administrations, it is something that we need to see to being careful about throwing out there moving forward.
Not every criticism or wrongdoing is based on race. Not every slight is because we’re Black. The race card – because of its explosiveness and its viscosity – has to be held back from being approached at all costs, even by us.
Lest we come across like the guy that spoke up too much too often and discredit ourselves completely in the process.
Lenny McAllister - Before graduating from prestigious Davidson College (NC), Lenny played a role in aiding the long process of procuring nationally- renowned Alpha Phi Alpha as the first historically Black fraternity established on the College’s campus. McAllister was featured as a political commentator and writer during the Republican National In addition, McAllister was a guest host on the Fox News primetime webcast with Shepard Smith before Gov. Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech and a featured guest on “ABC News NOW” with Sam Donaldson in primetime before Senator John McCain’s acceptance speech.
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West’s “stand” against Bush back then were wrong, even back then. The truth is that no one is prepared for a disaster of this magnitude. Yes, Bush’s team made grave errors and got stuck on stupid, but the Regional FEMA office wasn’t simply ready for a hurricane. West only made the situation worst by playing the race card.
He’s a jackass!!!!
When I look back st the bush administration, I don’t know what on earth would make anyone think he does not care or has no regard for African Americans. Oh, wait, maybe it’s THIS:
He wants to abolish affirmative action, a program that clearly has not run its course to reverse de jure discrimination. We see proof of that in the pictures of the aftermath of the Katrina disaster itself. How many of the victims in dire straits were white? Affirmative action clearly has not helped enough black people yet and you see it by the makeup of the people who did not have the resources to get out of New Orleans. The white citizens, by and large, had less of a problem finding transportation, gas, or other resources to get away.
George Bush, who uses race-baiting tactics, like “quotas” to turn public opinion against affirmative action, clearly doesn’t realize or doesn’t care that now is not the time to remove affirmative action. Does that make him a racist? Not necessarily, but he is certainly biased against the black community in that regard.
Look more closely. George Bush refused to meet with the NAACP, the most important and oldest civil rights organization in America –the first President not to do so in a generation. The poor masses have grown larger under his watch, while the rich got richer, even though it was obvious by the makeup of his “tax cut” that this would happen. The largely white, wealthy parents of schoolchildren used Bush’s voucher-program to get away from African-American dominated schools, while blacks were left to rot in inadequate schools in the ghetto, (with no escape), just like in Katrina.
Let’s not forget the post Katrina words of the dear woman who raised him:
“What I’m hearing which is sort of
scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is
so overwhelmed by the hospitality.
“And so many of the people in the arena here, you
know, were underprivileged anyway, so this–this (she
chuckles slightly) is working very well for them.”
Yeah, I’m sure the thought of all of those brown and black bodies floating in the water gave her something to chuckle about.
With that being said, I will have the same blind support of MY Harvard educated, esquired esteemd President Barack Obama as whites had of that illiterate idiot Bush. Regardless of what he does right or wrong I will support him. Isn’t that how you whites give support to your own?
Oh, let’s not forget how George Bush won the South Carolina primary by telling voters that John McCain’s daughter from Bangladesh is Black so that he would lose votes because according to George Bush that’s a terrible thing. Please come up with an excuse for that white people, you all are so creative with that.
Wow Kammi – Have some more kool-aide, the more you drink the dumber you sound!!!
Good God, educate yourself before you spout off about stuff you clearly no little or next to nothing about.
How much do we really need affirmative action when the President is black, the AG is black, several people in this adminstration and the previous administration are black?
Kammi, you really need to get over you inferority complex for black people. Just because we are black doesn’t mean we have less opportunities than someone that is white by the simple virtue of them being white. There are plenty of poor white people and when you compare blacks and whites from the same socieconomic background, the opportunities are largely the same.
Stop putting these white people on a pedestal!