#1 Kanye The Race Traitor
The idea of Kanye running for President was never frightening to me. In one way, it was a beautiful thing. Also, it was a totally pointless bit of theater. Let me explain first why it was beautiful. Kanye’s mother, the late Dr. Donda West, who I interviewed and spoke with on a few occasions, told me that it was important to her to make him feel like he could do anything. She said she worshipped the ground he walked on and helped give him the boundless self-confidence that’s defined his life. It’s because of her that he dreams big and believes in himself no matter what and always shoots for the moon. And it’s thrilling to see a Black person believe in themselves so deeply that they can dream gargantuan dreams and think in grandiose ways. Visionary dreams are part of how we progress as a people. That said, I understand the disgust many feel about Kanye running at a moment when the Presidential race is deadly serious—if he were to take votes away from Biden that would be unconscionable. But, really, who’s leaving Team Biden to vote for Kanye? Certainly not Black Biden voters because even though Kanye’s a major driver of modern Black culture, in the realm of politics, he’s rightly seen as a Race Traitor.
Kanye loves being viewed as a contrarian. He feels an imperative to push buttons. His support of Trump was all about being different than everyone else and getting a rise out of people. I’m sure he likes Trump interpersonally—the ego, the bombast, the pop culture power—but ultimately everything Kanye does is of value to Kanye. His support for Trump gave him attention because it gave him something he craves—a chance to seem unique. He was standing apart from almost all Black Americans, and for that he got more promotion. Race Traitorism is about giving comfort and solace to enemies of your race for personal benefit. I just doubt that selling his soul has been worth it.
#2 News Copaganda
The murder of George Floyd has re-traumatized many of us again now that body cam footage has revealed how heartless and inhumane the officers were. This is the sort of policing Black people are used to. This is why wet must say Black lives matter—because the actions of this country, especially the police, so often prove that they don't. I take solace knowing that former officer Chauvin is currently rotting in jail, awaiting a trial he will surely lose but I cannot forget about the police department’s original charging document about Floyd’s death that tried to clear him. It said “The autopsy revealed no physical findings that support a diagnosis of traumatic asphyxia or strangulation. Mr. Floyd had underlying health conditions including coronary artery disease…” So we’re to believe he died because he ate too much fried chicken? Are you serious? But this is common police business, a way the cops cover themselves, telling us that Floyd did not die because of them. Lots of police murders are purposely mis-classified, driving down the numbers of those viewed as being killed by cops. Without video and public pressure, the story of George Floyd would have faded into oblivion. But the element that truly gave the charging document it’s power is this: even when the police are reporting on themselves and thus have obvious reasons to lie giving media obvious reasons to be cynical, even then, media will treat a police report as truthful and repeat it verbatim. For media, police reports function like the absolute unbiased truth. This is, frankly, insane, especially when police are reporting on themselves. Media is generally less cynical about the police than about any other government agency. This is part of copaganda. That word generally means entertainment that centers cops and shows them as valiant and heroic and not racist or oppressive—cop propaganda. But it also includes the way news media often capes for the police, believing them entirely, presenting their reports as unquestioned truth. Stop the madness. We deserve a news media that’s cynical about police and their reports, that doesn’t believe everything the police say about themselves. We know the police lie. Report accordingly.
Recently we’ve been told that there’s been a sudden nationwide shocking rise in crime and killings. Media has accepted this narrative unskeptically and run off looking for reasons why because they refuse to notice and examine their penchant to publish copaganda. In media whatever the police say is truth. But how do we know that there’s been a rise in crime and killings? Because the police told us. The reports of this shocking rise in crime and killings has come… from the police. They’re asking us to swallow this news uncritically even though it has arrived at a very convenient time—just weeks after a national movement critiquing police and demanding radical changes in policing. Never forget this: THE POLICE LIE ALL THE TIME. They manage information in ways that help them. They are highly motivated to make us think that cities are under siege from criminals with guns. How do we *know* that this is true? We don’t. You may have seen a story or three about specific killings in big cities but doesn’t mean that crime is up. Killings happen. They’re tragic but we could cite heartbreaking stories of killings all the time. Doesn’t mean there’s a rise in crime. Crime goes up every summer and perhaps the widespread loss of jobs in the Corona economy has led some people to grow more desperate and angry but maybe not. Overall crime and homicide is at far lower levels than it has been in previous decades but the police (and media) never want to talk about that.
I’m extremely skeptical of the story that there’s been a rapid rise in crime and killings right after a national movement to criticize and defund the police. Is this a way of pushing back against BLM and silencing critique of the police and frightening people into supporting police and backing off of defunding and abolishing? Yes it is. The police manage and deploy information in ways meant to help them. I seriously doubt that there’s been a real rise in crime, there’s only police telling us to be afraid in order to convince people that they need the police. But in the real world, quite often, the real problem is not crime, it’s the police.
#3 Nick Canon
He is not a victim.
# 4 ZIWE!!!
My NEW favorite show is comedian Ziwe Fumudoh’s IG Live show where she interviews white and Black people and gets all up in their face about race. (IG @Ziwef) She’ll interview white people and be like “Who’s Marcus Garvey? At your last job what was the climate like for Black people and what did you do to change it? How many Black friends do you have? Do they know that you see them as props?” She’s hysterical and aggressive and she’s challenging these white people from within the Black gaze, not giving them a pass for not knowing who Marcus Garvey is, but assuming that they should just they expect us to know all about their culture. So often we give white people a break for being white and not knowing about Black culture and history. Ziwe inspires us to never do that.