Kanye “Ye” West: Misunderstood Genius or Mentally Ill Racist?
This isn’t another article debating the nuances of harsh rhetoric uttered famously by Ye, now cemented in fable and lore. If you haven’t followed the hyper-mania episodes of Ye on the Drink Champs podcast to Joe Rogan, then you will miss context on comments I wish to interact with and explore.
I do not agree with any form of racism. I also do not agree with the new age definition of racism which states that only those in power can be truly racist. I believe that racism like all forms of hate is self-idolatry wrapped in ignorance and therefore by default all people of all classes can be racist. That being said I want also suggest that people being human can be more than one thing, feel more than one thing, contribute more than one thing and will be remembered for more than one thing. With that in mind I want to take a look at a few quotes from Ye’s past that shed light into his mind that I think might be so far ahead we won’t catch up for another generation.
“George Bush doesn’t like black people.” The famous 2005 quote put the name Kanye West on every national news channel and publication making him forever famous in the annals of American Pop Culture was the genesis. Even back then, as is today his words echo a harsh reality and give word to what is considered taboo while being unapologetic. This was not just black people, but also poor white people who were suffering right along side them on the ground. To understand Ye now, is to understand his way of thinking has never changed, just his subject matter. It has expanded.
“You hear about slavery for 400 years. For 400 years? That sound like a choice.” The infamous quote 13 years later in 2018 at TMZ came on the heels after the comments about Trump and being a free thinker. A TMZ staffer stood up and confronted Kanye about his comments which he went on to speak about how regular (black) people still have to deal with the consequences of that history i.e. “‘systemic racism”. I want offer a different perspective on this.
There is no denying the fact of African chattel slavery in this country or the impact of that legacy has had on the Black American experience. The specters of that legacy still linger in society today and they may always linger as all consequences of sin and wrong doing do. When I think about this comment and disassociate my immediate emotional reaction and truly think on where this thought is originating I don’t believe that Ye hates black people. I don’t think he’s ignorant. I do know he is a fallible man and he makes mistakes with his actions and words. Was this one of those times? I don’t think so entirely. I think this was a comment about the state of mind of black people.
We were oppressed for hundreds of years and the consequence of that is gross negative self-sabotaging, self-defeatist, self-loathing and abusiveness. The “poverty mindset”. Napoleon Hill’s classic “Think and Grow Rich” talks about the mental laws. If you compare this to the average mindset of black people you will see that most of those laws are broken by default. The “choice” Kanye is stating isn’t the choice of being physically in slavery, as if to say hey I choose to be a slave.
It is the choice one defaults to caused by extreme mental and physical trauma, brainwashing, spiritual and physical torture, separation of family, and death that created a permanent generational mindset in which black people became conditioned to believe their lot was to be nothing more than a slave. This is the “miseducation of the negro.” I think Kanye was touching on this state because it is still woven into the fabric of reality for all black people.
The ones who learn to reprogram their minds back to normal and adopt these mental laws break out of the “slave mentality” and into the “abundance mindset”. Since we were never taught this growing up we come into adulthood believing what we were taught by our parents and environment is just how things are and subconsciously never challenge this thinking or our actions. It isn’t until we collide with a different culture, belief system or therapy that our thinking is challenged and thus requires us to confront and explore our pre-dispositions of why we speak, act and think the way we do. Being on the lower levels of society and in poverty the majority of African Americans don’t find themselves with the knowledge, capacity, means or fortitude to do this kind of work. Unfortunately, these opportunities are few and far between if at all.
Finally, the comments about the Jewish people. I want to state upfront, again for the record, I am not defending anything Ye has said, I am only sharing some of my perspectives, thoughts and opinions as someone who has loved the artist Kanye West since his work on Jay-Z’s 1999 LP The Blueprint. I understand it is difficult to try and remove the emotion and look at the words of what he’s saying, but I am attempting to do that and only that.
It is my opinion that Kanye West has become captured and deceived by a false theology. Yes, theology. It is an evil, deceptive, inaccurate and manipulative theology and movement called Black Hebrew Israelites. This is a very deep subject one that I will not address here but if you want to understand where these comments are coming from then you must research this theology. It is a theology because it makes claims about God and the anthropology and ontology of man.
This is the same religion that famous and talented rapper Lamar Kendrick has bought into and it has led him into thinking he’s God or a God. Once Kanye bought into the belief that black people (all dark skinned peoples of various geographic regions not just in America) are the “true jews” then that made all the “white jews” fake. They are not real jews therefore he is not being antisemitic but he is exposing the truth and at the same time standing up for justice of the true jews who he believes he now is a part of and descends from.
Again, my intentions are not to explain away or run from his comments but only to put them in context and address them. Ye is a genius. Along with genius, comes great responsibility but also great burden and part of genius is it borders along insanity. I am not saying Kanye is insane, I am saying he’s saying some insane statements because is knowledge base is false and his internal compass is off. I believe he is quite clear, but he is on the wrong side of truth because of self-deception.
Pray for him. He is not an evil person, only a lost one. He is not a racist, only deceived. He is an icon who still can do a lot of good for a lot people. That is one thing I truly believe.
