Kanye West and His Support for President Donald Trump
Kanye “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” West recently found himself squarely in the middle of media buzz surrounding his recent support for President Donald Trump. The whole debacle began when Kanye began tweeting his support for Candace Owens, a Black conservative “sensation” who has steadily gained a following in recent months. Met with immediate criticism for his position, Kanye began to defend his statements with more tweets claiming that he was a “free thinker” who found common ground with Trump who shared his “Dragon Energy.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates' Criticisms of Kanye
Enter Ta-Nehisi Coates, an African American writer from The Atlantic, with his piece titled “I’m not Black, I’m Kanye,” which, as one can imagine, criticizes the rap star for his position. But oddly enough, it is not only the rapper’s shared dragon energy with Trump that he castigates, but also Kanye’s preoccupation with individuality over his membership with the Black community. In the piece, he notes how Kanye had lost his way and needs to come “home;” that his desire to be a free thinker ultimately boils down to his desire to enjoy white freedom, which he describes as a “freedom without consequence, freedom without criticism, freedom to be proud and ignorant; freedom to profit off a people in one moment and abandon them in the next… freedom without responsibility, without hard memory” (Coates). Coates accuses Kanye of betraying his race – like Michael Jackson did – by putting his “I” before his “We,” the latter being the source from which he funnels all of his talents.
Liberal View of Kanye's Statements
Near the end, Coates makes a passing statement about Kanye lending his “imprimatur… to the racist rhetoric of the conservative movement,” which makes the piece an incredibly succinct summary of how Liberals look at this issue. Liberals like Coates look at Kanye’s statements and see an uninformed Black man whose thoughtless words empower the racists of the country, i.e., everyone in the conservative movement. For them, the issue is not really about Kanye thinking freely, it is about him losing himself in his enormous ego, and finding himself wanting the same “freedom to be racist” that white people have a monopoly on – by being “free” to think like Trump. Like Coates, Liberals look at this issue and see Kanye on “a path to self-destruction,” whose privilege makes him “experience the deprivation as [his] own, and not the deprivation of family, friends, and community” (Coates).
The Left's View of Kanye's Alleged Betrayal
In short, the Left sees Kanye as a selfish walking contradiction by espousing views that work against the very people who got him where he is, i.e., the Black community. This is why most Conservatives have reacted the way they have: by calling out Liberals for their alleged intolerance of Kanye’s political position. Some of them have accused Coates and others like him of being part of a Black orthodoxy, members of which who dissent are labeled wrong-thinkers at best, and “Uncle Toms” at worst. By stifling Kanye’s speech, they prove themselves as being so accustomed to groupthink that they have effectively confined themselves into an echo chamber of their own making, where every Black person must be faithful adherers of the Democratic Party, lest they be treated as heretics, and later, as outcasts.
The Difference between the Right and the Left
Same situation, two divergent takes – and what accounts for the difference is the worldview espoused by the modern Right and Left. The Left believes that republicans are rabid racists because they seek to preserve the status quo despite the obvious oppression of communities of color. The Right believes the democrats are intolerant tyrants that stifle free speech and individual thought in favor of group identity. And therein lies the difference: as far as the Kanye debacle is concerned, Liberals are collectivists that believe that the needs of the community trump the rights of the individual, whereas Conservatives are individualists that believe the rights of the individual trump the needs of the community. The former are preoccupied with the common welfare, and see Conservatives as selfish for not wanting equality of outcomes. The latter are concerned with individual liberties, and so view Liberals as tyrants who want to take their freedoms away.
Potential Solutions to the Political Divide
The gap between these political parties is wide, for sure, but they are not unbridgeable. However, such bridges must be built on a case-by-case basis and leveled against the plumb line that is the Constitution. That being said, this particular debacle can be solved either by 1) bridging the collectivist-individualist divide or 2) doing away with the inflammatory rhetoric that ruins political discourse. The first option will be the more permanent option. The divide can be bridged by encouraging the creation of strong communities made up of free, empathetic individuals – a convergence seemingly ignored today. This option would have no cons, save for the fact that it is virtually impossible to do in the present political climate due to high tensions that often erupt as violence.
The other option is more short-term in that sense, but it is the option that I would go with. The animosity between both Conservatives and Liberals is no secret, and it oozes in anything they do and everything they write. If this problem disappears and both sides cease to strawman one another, then perhaps true dialogue could emerge. This option, however, would involve dismantling the narratives that permeate the current dialogue between Left and Right, which is a difficult feat to accomplish in and of itself. For one, I believe it is unfair for Coates to characterize an entire demographic of people as racists on the basis of their political affiliation; wrong for him to characterize Kanye as a traitor to his race, however eloquently. Such attitudes demonize the other side – and who in their right minds will have an honest dialogue with demons? It is this attitude from either side which prevents the creation of solutions to our most dire problems, and it is the attitude that needs immediate fixing.
Works Cited
Coates, Ta-Nehisi. “I’m Not Black, I’m Kanye.” The Atlantic, 7 May 2018, https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/05/im-not-black-im-kanye/559763/. Accessed 30 May 2018.
