What’s this? A political post on JeffCroft.com? It’s true, my interest in politics is nearly non-existent, but faithful readers do know that I’m a Kanye West fan, so I feel obliged to comment on K-West’s soundbite heard ‘round the world. If you’ve had your head buried in your arse for the past five days, it went something like this: President Bush doesn’t care about black people.
What Kanye had to say:
I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, “They’re looting.” You see a white family, it says, “They’re looking for food.” And, you know, it’s been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I’ve tried to turn away from the TV because it’s too hard to watch. I’ve even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I’m calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help — with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way — and they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us!
First things first: I will never understand why people give a damn what someone like Kanye West thinks about George Bush or politics in general. Kanye West is a musician. He’s an expert hip-hop producer. To my knowledge, he has no expertise on politics, disaster recovery, military mobilization, or anything else related to hurricane Katrina. The same can be said for Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, The Dixie Chicks, Dave Matthews, and any other celebrity whose personal politics disagree with yours. Why you would put so much stock into what they have to say as to, for example, boycott their music or movies is completely beyond me.
Next: It was stupid of Kanye to voice his opinion. Not because he’s incorrect or because doesn’t have a right to, but because his thoughts weren’t well-collected and it was the wrong place and time. It’s dumb from a PR standpoint, and it’s dumb from a political standpoint.
Certainly he does not really believe Bush, Chertoff, Brown, and their compadres sat around a conference table somewhere in Washington and said aloud, “well, they’re black and poor, so there’s really no need to hurry.” Obviously, that’s absurd. I personally believe that race and class probably did play a part on a subconscious level, but that doesn’t mean it was smart for Kanye to spout off about it.
But the bottom line is this: whether or not race and class were reasons for the extraordinarily slow response of the federal government to the suffering of hurricane victims is irrelevant. What matters is perception. The fact is that a lot of poor folks and a lot of black folks, including many of those who waited for days at the Superdome and the New Orleans Convention Center believe that race and class played a part. The perception is that the Bush White House would have acted faster if the face of this tragedy what more white and more wealthy, and that’s something the Bush administration is going to have to deal with, wether it’s true or not.
Very well said, Jeff. Perception is everything in the world of politics, and Bush certainly doesn’t need another PR black eye to deal with. But he’s got one.
And given the abysmally slow response time, someone’s responsible and should be held accountable. Maybe Bush should have gotten involved earlier, though why FEMA needs to have its hand held to do its job is beyond me. I think Bush needs to sack someone, first and foremost Brown.
The only thing slower than the federal response to the hurricane, was YOUR response to the hurricane.
Kidding.
Anyway, regarding politics and celebrity. Some celebrities (Eddie Vedder in particular) make an effort to educate themselves about issues before spouting off about them. In fact, I recall an interview with Vedder where he stated that he realized at some point he needed to be more informed if he wanted to be politically vocal.
Honestly, I’m excited that Bush is getting the backlash that he is, warranted or not. (I happen to think that it -is- warranted, but that doesn’t matter.) So much is going wrong right now that you’d think he would eventually get something right. The war, the economy, environmental concerns, this most recent disaster (and I mean the hurricane and the administrations response), Karl Rove, and the list really goes on and on. Accountability needs to come into play pretty soon. Fortunately for the President, America has a severe case of ADD and thing keep coming up to distract our attention from the previous Bush Blunder.
I really DO happen to believe that “class” played into the response (race I’ll leave up in the air) and that after we’re done making what went wrong as right as we can, their needs to be some inquiries.
Lastly, I don’t think it was all that dumb. A lot of people (more so than a few months ago) are probably starting to agree with sentiments like the one uttered by Kanye. They’re probably happy to have someone ELSE uttering them, but I think support for the President is starting to splinter.
What baffles me is that the president didn’t realize that “black and poor” are the very people he NEEDS to save from a natural disaster, as they were the least likely to vote for him.
All the same, my feeling is: WHY the slow response? What the hell went wrong? Let’s find that out, and then deal with the reasons when we have them. Most likely, this will be overshadowed by whatever the President and his cronies come up with next.
Impeach that bastard.
Well said, and it needed to be said. Celebrities’ opinions on politics mean just about as much to me as the migration patterns of muskrats.
As far as the actual politics in this post, its quite apolitical: there exists a problem, and it’s got to be fixed, whether or not the problem is real or imagined.
Good post.
I couldn’t agree more. People can’t honestly think the government is not helping these people fast on purpose. I think Kanye just needs to stick to making music and let the black political leaders sort this out.
While this situation is clearly not one to laugh about, one thing I do find hilarious is that Fidel Castro actually offered medical personnel to the USA.
The perception is that the Bush White House would have acted faster if the face of this tragedy what more white and more wealthy, and that’s something the Bush administration is going to have to deal with, wether it’s true or not.
What is it about the Bush administration that makes you think they feel they “need” to deal with their public perception? The public perception is that the War in Iraq is going badly. The public perception is that we need an energy bill that focuses on relieving our dependence on foreign fuel. The public perception is that Social Security shouldn’t be changed in the way that he wants to change it. Bush molds the perceptions of his public into the reality that he wants to see.
Touche! Funny, very funny. :)
Seriously, though — I’ve been pretty much glued to CNN for the past five or six days, so I am certainly not apathetic. I just choose not to talk publicly about this stuff most of the time.
No doubt there are celebs who know what they’re talking about — hell, Kanye might even be one. But the fact remains — if I want an opinion that matters on politics, I’m going to a politician, not a hip-hop producer or the lead singer of a rock band.
I concur. I tend to think race and class may have played a part on a subconscious level, but certainly not on an open, conscious one (no politician is that dumb).
It’s not dumb that Kanye thinks that, but I do think it was fairly dumb to spout off about it in the forum he did. It was inappropriate, and his thoughts were definitely not very well collected or spoken. Kanye has made a name for himself as being a thoughtful, intelligent, and well-spoken man in hip-hop, and his off-the-cuff remarks didn’t play very well into that image. He should have taken the time to get his thoughts together and voiced them in a more cohesive way in a more appropriate forum.
And if I did want to know about the migration patterns of muskrats, I sure as hell wouldn’t ask Kanye West or the Dixie Chicks. And if Kanye West or the Dixie Chicks chose to voice their opinions on muskrat migration, I probably wouldn’t take them very seriously, either.
Kanye has every right to an opinion and to voicing that opinion — I just don’t understand why anyone else would take it that seriously — just as I don’t know why anyone would take my opinion that seriously. This is one of the reasons I rarely post about politics and current events — I’m no expert. If I talk about CSS and XHTML, I expect people will sit up and listen, because I have some degree of expertise. If I talk about politics, I expect most people won’t take me too seriously — and I don’t blame them.
I think they need to if they wish to have the American public on their side. They need to in the same way that Apple needs to deal with the perception of a battery issue on iPods and Microsoft needs to deal with the perception of viruses and trojans on Windows. If they want to succeed, they need to deal with it. If they want to wither away and die, then they don’t.
You should write political pieces more often. This is a great post — and I agree.
I lost all respect for Mr. West. I’m sure the producers of the program did as well, and will likely never invite or allow him to do anything similiar (live) in the future. That sucks for him, and could have easily been avoided if he had stuck to the script.
That being said, I don’t think muscians should keep their mouth shut about what they believe — about politics, love or life, etc. They have influence (some earned, some not), which comes with a great amount of responsibility. That influence can and should be taken advantage of … in the proper place, at the proper time.
It’s great to see telethons like the one that aired last weekend, where artists of varying backgrounds and genres come together for one purpose: to help hurting people. It spoils it when their influence is abused and one (or more) individuals make emotional — and, as mentioned, irrational — statements that tarnish the integrity of the program.
I’m boycotting Kanye. It doesn’t matter what I think about his music, personality, or color of skin — he’s a human and an American. He was immature with his power; he lost my trust and respect (and money).
It’s absolutely your right to boycott Kanye and I respect your decision to do so…
…but I could never make that same decision myself. There is only one factor at play when i decide whether or not to buy a musical artist’s CD: do I like their music? Kanye, to me, is nothing more than a musician. As such, I only care about his music. Same goes for Tim Robbins. I only care whether he is a good actor or not (and he is). His personal politics don’t generally affect the quality of his CD or latest movie, so I don’t see why they should be a factor in my decision to partake of it or not.
But that’s just me.
I’m removing your rss feed right now. This is just too retarded. Here you’re telling actors, artists etc. that they shouldn’t think and speak, something that you apparently are fully entitled too. Wow…
Clearly you didn’t read what I just said. Allow me to refresh your memory:
Go ahead and remove my RSS feed is you wish — that’s your right, just as it’s your right to boycott The Dixie Chicks if you so choose. Next time you might read the whole thread before doing so, though.
Have you been watching the same news I have? To me, I think it’s all about class, race and lifestyle (sinners in New Orleans), as far as why things have taken so long.
Of the displaced living in the Astrodome, Barbara Bush said “… this is working very well for them”. Since, you know, they were poor anyway.
Or maybe the CNN reporter who said “… these people are so poor and they are so black …”.
Sure, phrased exactly like that is absurd. But I think Kayne West’s comment was spot on. I applaud him for having the courage to say such a thing.
Liberals only? Weird.
Have you been reading the same thread I have? Perhaps you missed where I said I do beleive that class and race played a part?
Are they all liberals? I didn’t know. I don’t pay attention to this stuff. I just know those are the people I always hear others bitching about for voicing their opinions.
It seems as though you are a liberal and have mistaken me for a conservative, when in fact I’m very, very liberal. Was I not clear?
By the way, the backlash from posters like Johan and Justin are reminding me why I don’t usually post about this kind of thing. People take one sentence out of context and twist it to make you sound like you said something you didn’t. They don’t read the whole article or thread. They ignore the spirit of your post and focus in on minutiae.
My point was simple: it’s the perception that matters, not the reality. Whether or not Bush and friends are really racist doesn’t matter — what matters is that it looks like they are. Everything else was just build up to that point.
God, I hate politics.
Ok ok, I did miss that part. Sorry about that, I didn’t catch it in the discussion until after I posted.
It’s clear now. This whole disaster has really turned me on edge, looks like I’m a little trigger happy with defending what I think is right.
I think you’ll find that whichever party is in power will reflect who you hear the most from. Clinton probably brought a lot of the conservative crowd out of their shell.
Which is exactly the last place -I- would go. If i wanted an opinion on the new Deuce Bigalow movie, I sure wouldn’t approach Rob Schneider in order to get one. ;) I think the only way to approach politics is by reading a helluva lot of news sources and form a personal opinion that you’re willing to defend.
For example, I’m willing to defend my belief that Bush is a moron who should never have been put into a position of power. Fortunately, he shows this off almost every day.
No worries, man. :)
You make a good point. I dunno. Until Kanye West or anyone else displays that they have a handle on politics, I’m not going to take them that seriously. That was my point, really.
By the way, is there really going to be another Deuce Bigalow movie? As if Katrina wasn’t a big enough tragedy…
I think you might have misunderstood me. I agree that they need to do some damage control. My point was that this administration never recognizes this need. If you never feel like you’re wrong, you really never care much about public perception. Damage control for Bush would mean admitting mistakes, something he doesn’t seem willing to do.
Unless by damage control you mean, change the subject and/or shift the blame, while making us feel like we’re letting our country down by dissenting.
Of course he has, that’s why I said “I think”. If he’s doing this to get attention, I don’t think it was needed since he had enough anyway. If he’s really trying to make a political point he shouldn’t be doing it this way, but he should give some solid arguments. By saying this he’s helping no one so I say, stick to making music and he’ll make a whole lot more people happy.
Makes sense now, Brian.
By the way, I made a few minor tweaks to the original post to clarify my personal views in a couple of places.
When I first saw the title of the entry I thought it said, “Oh Kanye, Bush, and Black People” — y’know the way Jon Stewart does on “The Daily Show” with that little shake of the head. Hee.
What I find surprising about his outburst (although, if we’re going to nitpick, outbursts are necessarily surprising, no? anyway) is that he let it fly in the middle of a telethon. Angry, frustrated, tired, fed up, brother I get it. We all get it. I would have expec— hoped for a little more composure. \=
What’s sad is that I think it’s going to be well nigh impossible for political leaders who aren’t black to bring this one up and discuss it. “Pandering!” “Suck up!” Except, probably (okay, hopefully) not.I’ll never understand the reason behind posting such a comment. As if it really punishes the site owner. Please.
My biggest problem (other than no giving a damn what celebrities think), is that what West did was the last thing the Red Cross and the people of New Orleans needed was to anger 51% of the population. Right or wrong, I guarantee there were people out there who decided not to donate because of what was said.
FWIW…
Kanye did his NFL opening day event press conference and didn’t say much about the incident the other night. He just said that he didn’t intend to detract from the NFL event. The article said he “seemed glum.” I think Kanye is probably regretting his outburst a bit, even if he stands by his feelings.
I picked up his new album yesterday. Like the first one, it’s really great. And it’s further evidence that Jamie Foxx is taking over the world.
Is Jamie Foxx on the album?
For someone attempting to take over the world, he sure seems to have chosen a sucktacular movie to appear in.
Cough…. Stealth… cough…. ahem.
Yeah, Jamie Foxx is on the album (he was on the first one, too). He sings on “Good Digger” (which, somewhat interestingly, is a total New Orleans-style jam. It’s groove would be right at home on a Delfayo Marsalis or Dirty Dozen Brass Band album). On the first album he sang on “Slow Jamz,” which was probably my favorite track.
It just seems like Jamie Foxx is everywhere these days. He’s winning Oscars and Grammys, he’s singing on the VMAs, etc. He seems to be taking Will Smith’s spot as the black man white people love to love.
I think Kanye did a good thing with his comments, and I wish more people who had the ability to take a stand on social issues would do just that. To say a performer should stick to performing is to take for granted the power structure in our society. Music and sports are two areas in which minorities have been able to gain real power (which is a whole nother fucked up discussion), unlike the arena’s of government and business, and for a minority figure to stand up for their community and use that unique capability is nothing but commendable.
As for composure, come on! Do you think you would be well composed if you were pushing against an entire system, and calling out the most powerful person in the world, that you’d be well composed?
i think Dan has a point, even though I also agree that -Kanye’s- valid criticism may have been invalidated by an unfortunate choice of words.
For the record…I have never said any performer should “just stick to singing.” I don’t question their right or desire to speak out on world issues. I only question why people get so upset when they do. Why don’t they just let it roll off their shoulder like they do when I speak out, or anyone else? They have every reason to speak, and sometimes have good things to say — I just don’t think they should be taken as seriously as experts on the topic at hand, that’s all.
Before I say anything on this, please keep in mind that I’m not some lunatic screaming and huffing and puffing at the screen as I write this. I’m sitting in my kitchen with my laptop - my girlfriend is in the other room, and we’re having a nice cozy evening at home with our dog in seattle - it’s quite nice.
But, having grown up black in America very much qualifies him as an expert in what he was ranting about. He’s a black man that sees a group of thousands of BLACK PEOPLE sick and dying, and NO ONE gets around to helping them for DAYS. He wasn’t talking about taxes, foreign aid, social security, the supreme court, gay marriage — he was talking about the disgustingly slow federal response to thousands of BLACK PEOPLE getting sick and DYING IN THE STREETS for DAYS. Then, to top it off, there is prominent speculation on the nature of news reports defining whites as “finders” and blacks as “looters”, and on top of that, the government is threatening to shoot “looters”, which by the previous definition, is black people.
And, on top of this, what other prominent blacks do you see talking about this? Oprah is the only one that I can think of, so there is serious under-representation in the media for the affected population. It’s all a bunch of white people who are able to intellectually distance themselves from the situation and analyze it.
You don’t get more expert on being black in america than, say, being black in america.
No, really, I wasn’t huffing and puffing there, I swear… um… gotta go.
And, at the same time, what west said is cerrtainly true if you look at it from the right perspective.
Bush might not want black people to suffer necessarily, but he certainly doesn’t see them as a group of voters worth devoting his time to. His stubborn refusal to meet with the NAACP will attest to this. West should have said “Black people aren’t on George W. Bushes Radar, and we need to let them know that the rest of America is ready to send help.”
HAHAHA, you are a funny funny guy. Seriously.
The federal government can’t step in without authorization from the State officials… normally the governor.
Even according to Blanco (the LA governor) she didn’t give it until the weekend. The Coast Guard was able to do things right after the storm because they have jurisdiction on all coastal waters… since NOLA was under water, technically they were part of the USCG’s jurisdiction.
Bush, et al reacted faster in Florida last year because Jeb Bush (the FL governor) was on the phone immediately and authorized involvement before the storm hit.
On a side note… I really like this little floating comment box. Very nice. ;)
KC…
Even if that’s all accurate (and we won’t really know until a commision is done), at what point does the president have to say, “screw it, we’re not waiting…people are dying, we need to get in there!”?
There may have been legal tape in the way, but when faced with the biggest disaster in the history of the nation, the President has to exercise his authority to save lives.
That’s my opinion, anyway!
Thanks for the comment box comments. :)
“There may have been legal tape in the way, but when faced with the biggest disaster in the history of the nation, the President has to exercise his authority to save lives.”
The problem is that without authorization, he could be prosecuted and rightfully so… I don’t want the Feds coming in and declaring anything they want to be under their jurisdiction. This is how we end up with screwy drug laws, terrible involvement of the Feds in your personal life, etc, etc.
You need to check out the K-Otix’s “George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People”. It’s not really a remix, it’s just K-Otix rapping over Gold Digger with some pretty hot, relevant rhymes.
The Legendary K.O.- George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People
Good post! I also think it is crazy that Bush was saying “lets delay help because they are all black.” What what I have seen, it is all black people saying this. I blame the media, because this is how its portrayed on every station, when in fact there were thousands of white people who were victim of the same slow response…I know because I’ve seen at least 15 white people here in Kentucky and talked to them about it and they’ve lost everything. Its just crazy that people have to think like this. Its not a black/white issue. It’s a cat 4 hurricane and wiped out a huge area, people knew it was coming and yet they didn’t leave. As bad as I feel for them, it is partly their own fault. I just think Kanye’s remarks are a prime example of why there is still racism in this country, black people are way to quick to pull the race card. Granted there are valid race issues and still racist people, but the race card is getting out of control…its being pulled out way to much.
At first, despite my love for KW’s music, I thought his comments were badly presented because they were so stilted and so seemingly badly-thought-out. Now that it’s been a while though, it makes a lot more sense. No matter what people think of Kanye, his music, or his political beliefs, he’s gotten thousands of Americans to keep repeating the phrase “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” over and over again. For those who believe one can speak truth to power, the fact that he’s gotten that concept into the public realm is invaluable.
Excellent point. It is odd that Bushie would be labeled as a racist. He has appointed some incompetent people on questionable merits, but he also has a diverse and mostly capable cabinet. Condi happens to be pretty awesome, as was Colin Powell. I read a good article about Kanye’s comments on white folks, and I understand that he isn’t the most tolerant of folks. I guess you just have to consider the source.
I enjoyed your post, and I also appreciated JD’s comment. (#3 M’ lord. Pick number 3.)