Kanye West fallout: A flood of words
Perhaps the most striking evidence of this came on Sunday during CNN's 'Late Edition' when host Wolf Blitzer quoted West when asking Mississippi Congressman Bennie Thompson whether the response to Hurricane Katrina has been racist. Thompson, a Democrat, said the government had failed and 'someone has to be held accountable.' He cited the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
The most revealing part of the exchange, however, was the fact that Thompson mistook the comments from West as a statement from Princeton University professor, theologian, author and activist Dr. Cornel West. In one fell swoop, the rapper and college dropout has earned a place in the front ranks of this country's best-known and most respected African-American activists."
I personally think it's great that Kanye said what he said, but I think it's more of a class issue than a race issue. And instead of pegging it on one man, I think it has a lot more to do with the system and the establishment perpetuating itself.
4 comments:
To you last sentence: Probably so, but you can scarcely deny the response would have been a substantially different if Clinton had been pres. when this happened. He would have at least said "I feel you pain" from the pulpit of a Baptist church instead of "I'll be flying out of here in a minute" from the tarmac of an airport.
Yeah, my point exactly. I'm not sure why you're saying that I implied a Clintonian response would've been different. Former Presidents certainly count as members of the system and/or establishment in my book. As do governors and big city mayors.
You wrote:
I'm not sure why you're saying that I implied a Clintonian response would've been different.
My response:
You misunderstood my post: I do not think you implied that Clinton's response would have been different. But I do think it would have been different. Of course, the hurricane still would have been a major disaster, but I think there would have been a faster response and more competent by the federal government, for various reasons.
The second sentence of my post was sort of a joke.
Yeah, I know the second sentence was a joke. But you did say that "the response would have been a [sic] substantially different if Clinton had been pres. when this happened."
I disagree that it would've been "substanially different," as Presidents are part (really, the main representatives) of the system/establishment.
(I have to say now honestly though that I'm confused why I wrote "Yeah, my point exactly." I must've been drunk.)
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