“George Bush doesn’t care about black People.”
With those words alone, the five-hour telethon to support the victims of Hurricane Katrina became the best comedy show in quite some time. The look of bewilderment on Mike Myers’ face roughly exemplified the reaction of most of America, as Kanye West proved that he wasn’t afraid of a little negative publicity by slightly deviating from the script while live on NBC.
Before making the comment that hit every news service in the whole country, West made a rambling speech that encompassed what some people were already thinking. West commented on how long it’s taken for much of the federal relief to get to New Orleans and that people cannot donate nearly enough to help the effort.
He also accused the media of being suspect in how it portrays whites as fighting for survival and blacks as looting, when in reality the broadcast stations show nearly identical footage of people stealing from flooded stores.
West could have touched on myriad other facts like the embarrassing infighting going on between the New Orleans and federal governments about who should have fixed the faulty levees, and thus limited some of the damage. Kanye also could have commented on how some major insurance companies sent teams of Emergency Claims Units to the south nearly two weeks in advance of Katrina, yet the government did not seem to take the threat seriously until just days before the disaster.
West did neither, but how he felt about the situation is shared by many thousands of other people around this country. What Kanye failed to foresee was that by popping off about soldiers shooting at blacks, he was hurting those he was trying to help.
West forgot that his presence on the telethon was to help the victims. West assuredly hurt donations by alienating many (let’s just go ahead and say it) white viewers who had voted for Bush, by publicly insulting the president. Many of the whites that were watching probably shut off their TVs instead of donating.
West misunderstood his audience and the platform he stood on. Did his comments have some merit? Possibly; it’s not like Bush’s track record with blacks is stellar, but it was West’s timing that was wrong. If he felt this way, there are many television stations that might have interviewed him for a full hour. He would have had the time to collect and compose his thoughts before airing them. Instead, he comes off as a hothead who cares only about his own beliefs rather then the lives of others.
You know what, though? I hope people keep putting the microphone in his face. Too often celebrities are afraid to take a stand and tell us how they really feel. They’re too worried about their record sales, box office count or clothing lines to risk alienating people with an actual stance. Considering that 70 percent of hip-hop album purchasers are white, West may have gone out of his way to hurt his career, but at least he speaks from his soul.
Kanye is a loose cannon and I absolutely love it. He makes me laugh, cringe and stare, but most importantly he makes us all think. In an era of people playing it way too close to the vest, West has had No. 1 songs about Jesus, the seduction of overabundance and conflict diamonds. He has spoken in interviews about homosexuality, single parents and, most famously, how our president evidently hates blacks. Even though he chose the wrong forum in which to make his stand, I applaud West for being willing to say those words, knowing full well what the results could be.
Personally, I think it more has to do with America’s higher classes not caring about the poor, than it does with skin color, but my thoughts don’t matter. Kanye, like every other citizen, has the constitutional right to freedom of speech, but he faltered because he forgot about the survivors of this tragedy and put the focus on himself. Don’t get me wrong; I laughed extremely hard at the sheer enormity of the situation, but it’s definitely not humorous that West’s actions probably cost the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund hundreds of thousands of dollars. My guess is that West won’t be asked back to take part of any more telethons. That’s too bad though, because the entertainment value will surely decrease without the self proclaimed hip-hop legend.
Trent Redden is a junior accounting major. He may be reached at [email protected]
