This is the cover of the latest Rolling Stone. I read the excerpt of the article that the magazine will let you read on its website. For better or worse, the excerpt at least makes no reference to West's Messianic aspirations. They refer to him as a genius. Though I will admit to whistling, quoting and generally liking "Gold Digger," I have to respectfully ask, "Is it possible to be a genius and an idiot at the same time?" For more on that question, check out the podcast that comes with the article. He makes no sense.West seems to be like others before him (P Diddy, Dr. "You better say my name in every song I produce" Dre) like an incorrigible egomaniac. The most clear sign of his arrogance seems to be his willingness to compare himself to Jesus for no apparent reason other than controversy. We don't talk much about blasphemy these days, but I'm pretty sure doing a magazine cover shoot in a crown of thorns qualifies. I don't see how he's a martyr. I actually respect the sentiment behind what he attempted to say at the Katrina Disaster relief disaster, if not the complete content. It's right that he should speak out about the fact that it might just be time for another civil rights movement, but he seems incapable of making 2 good decisions in a row. If he says or does something thoughtful or thought provoking, he seems to do something equally stupid and just plain provocative the next moment.
If there's no difference between good and bad press, Kanye sure seems gifted at creating some pub.
17 comments:
I’ll say two things.
First of all, like him or not, he’s doing some of the only unique stuff in hip-hop right now. His stuff is fresh, clever, and pretty positive. I’m actually pretty happy to have him around.
Second, a second civil rights movement? Hhhmmmm…don’t know about that. While the black community does indeed need some good leadership, it needs some leadership that will lead them to take advantage of the resources that are already there first. Starting with voting. The black community is no longer a minority community in America, yet it’s barely represented in the voting. They’ve got the votes to put a guy like Colin Powel in office, yet they don’t vote. I realize that this post isn’t about the state of black America, and I’m sure that loads of people would love to label me a racist for these thoughts, but this is actually coming from somebody who spends most of his time trying to get young minorities to step up to the plate, challenge the system, and to call their own community to success. I would love to see Colin Powel as our next president, just as I would have loved to have seen the SA get a black general (it’s long overdue), but that’s never going to happen if the black community doesn’t step up and at least take advantage of the resources that are there. It’s the FIRST step in a long line of steps that need to take place.
Now, go ahead. Bring on the nasty comments.
Having said all of that, it is a questionable magazine cover, and I also don't know how he's a martyr?
Kanye is entertaining and his lyrics and videos deep. As to comparing himself with Jesus....he will not be anyone's savior.
He does, however, carry some responsibility on his shoulders if he is going to act as a self-appointed spokesman. By the way, didn't he participate in the "Rock the vote" campaign and then not vote?
Tim, as to your questions of needing a black general...I would like to just see more african-americans in leadership...period. I would also like to see us have more Latino leadership.
Some of that is going to take some stepping up. Although in the case of the Army, it needs to be an intentional restructuring of the status quo.
It needs to be grass roots too. We need to hire employees who reflect our constituency, when qualified.
As to the cover of the magazine. I am not sure how one is a martyr when they make millions off of the backs of teenaged kids who are barely making it themselves.
Wow, Tim, what did I say to hit the Republican button? I'm a little surprised.
And then, with all due respect, I have to say that I had no intention of making this another insular Army debate. Let's get outside the bubble for just a sec.
I guess I feel like I should say more about the new civil rights movement. Thank you Tim for reinforcing my point. We all know that people of all races can now hold any kind of job, play any professional sport, run for and win elected offices. We know there's no segregation on buses or at water fountains anymore. But are we really satisfied that the systems with which the US operates are really fair and just and supporting opportunity for everyone? As a white male, I still have less difficulty and generally possess more advantage than someone of color who has had my same opportunities in life. Not to mention, those people of color who haven't had my opportunities, to live in a safe neighborhood, go to relatively decent public schools, get a private education. Can we not blame it all on the lazy black folk? There are still systematic ways in which whites are given power and prestige and advantage over blacks and latinos. We need to wake up to the fact that 40 years later, things are better, but the problem of racism in America is far from solved.
I don't get it...when did the black community stop being a minority community in America? Last I checked, 13% of the population isn't enough to get anybody elected. Also, we'll never really get a true count of how many African Americans who would love to vote but have been stopped due harrassment, misinformation, fraud, arcane laws, yadda yadda. I do think there's a voting problem in America, but I think it's more age and class driven than race driven.
Now you made me forget what I was gonna say about Kanye, dammit! :)
I spoke with a leader from the black community here in Atlanta recently. From what I understand, he is involved in urban renewal.
He was saying that instead of relying on handouts, which a lot of the area's population were accustomed to, he was running programs that would reward diligence instead of slackness. I think if you look at the history of great black Americans, you will see that they fought for equality while at the same time not using their circumstances as an excuse to be underachievers.
Why should we have a system that punishes those who work hard to succeed ( like King, Douglass, W.E.B., Harriet Tubman, Thurgood Marshall) and rewards those who lsit on their laruels?
I know that my race has benefitted me in some circumstances. I could also point to other circumstances where it has hindered me and others. (My brother, for example, who was passed over several years for entrance into medical college in favor of others who had lower scores but a different skin pigment.)
While the problem of racism in America may not be solved, I don't think solving it involves reparations and reverse discrimination.
(By the way, absolutely love "Jesus Walks", but now that West's narcisissm is setting in...)
What bugs me is, if you’re not for handouts, you’re a republican and a racist.
Well I’m not for handouts. I’m for public assistance and free healthcare, but only for young people, old people, handicapped people, and people with a job. If you’re working 30 hours a week at McDonalds, you deserve healthcare. If you’re sitting your arse on the couch all day, you don’t. And don’t mix points here. I still believe that, as the church, we’re still called to minister to and to help people who lay around on the couch all day. But I don’t think the government should be responsible for them.
As far as racism goes, yes, it’s still very much alive and well. Very much! But that doesn’t excuse the fact that the black community has not taken the opportunity to change things. Do you think if Martin Luther King Jr. was a live today, that he would be happy with how the black community has responded to all that he fought for? This isn’t about me wanting to keep the black community down. Just the opposite! This is about me wanting minority young people to know that getting ahead in this world means taking responsibility. We can all sit around and cry about racism all we want, but it’s not going to change the education system in the inner city. MSN is running a story right now stating that, soon, one third of Americans will live in states where blacks, Latinos, Asians, Native Americans and other minority groups will outnumber whites. So yes, I do believe that the numbers are equalling out. But the numbers at the polls are not.
I heard an interview with a Native American Chief a few years back. He talked of his sadness over the fact that Native Americans now had no reason to make anything of themselves. They were given free land, free housing, free medical care, and didn’t have to pay taxes. Furthermore, in many cases, casinos were giving them even more funds that they did not have to work for. While other minority groups in America were succeeding, Native Americans were disappearing into drug and alcohol abuse. Now, while I don’t think that Blacks are disappearing in America, I think that many of them have been happy to have an excuse to fail. They’ve got a long list of reasons why it’s ok for them to fail, and their children are reaping the rewards of this philosophy.
I think lots of people are happy to embrace an excuse to fail, not just blacks. But this has become a discussion about the black community in America, and these are my thoughts. I’m tired of handing our young people an excuse to fail. Yes, racism is alive and well. And it has an impact on education and good jobs for minorities. Now, what are you going to do about it?
Btw, I wouldn’t preach this message from the pulpit, nor post it on my blog. I believe it passionately, but it is a message that can only be shared with those whom you have a relationship with. And, for the record, I do definitely share it with my minority young people.
I have been reading the comments. Interesting stuff here. Is it not time for Christians to once again take the lead on all fronts?
We must fight systemic discrimination. We must also be the people providing opportunity in communities (which is another part of our SA DNA). We can tie it to our programs to work ethic, but we need show what work ethic is. Unfortunately, the church has often taken the easy way out. Writing a check instead of getting our hands dirty has been the church's way for a while.
Tim, I do agree that people need to take some resposibility. I think it does start with the church being active in the plight of the young. Teen pregnancy and out of wedlock births are a way of life among many minority groups. Yet, the SA chose to shut down all of its homes for unwed mothers about 20 years ago. We may not have solved the problem, but we could have made a dent. Instead, we worried more about liability and financial loss. What were we thinking?
eddy,
thanks for the kudos. i am not sure, however, that the equality we want in officership is as easily attained as you put it.
unfortunately, people in the corps would need and want the type of leadership that is not necessarily of the same pigmentation as them. neighborhoods would need to want them as well.
i am not sure a switch like the one you proposed would fly with the worshipping communities (i am speaking in generalities and not to these specific situations). there is also something to be said for indiginous leadership to be there for neighborhoods like their own.
I pretty much agree with everything Larry has said.
WOW! well...I know this isn't the point but as the C.O. of Montclair I would go to Harlem and I think by God's grace it could work...because really it is all about building relationships. ( in my humble opinion) :)
But why switch just to make a point. People know when your are "making a point" or "teaching" them how they should think. I agree with Larry. Well said Larry!
I don't know if this is biblical that we should wrestle with this question primarily (and almost exclusively) through the lens of the church, and our particular arm of the body of Christ OR if we just all live in such a bubble that it's hard to talk about it any other way.
But as long as we are looking inward, let me weigh in, I guess. As for indigenous leadership in Harlem, I think it's difficult to say what racial group constitutes indigenous leadership there. Does it require an African-American, a West Indian, a Latino (and let's not forget, that's a whole salad, not one race)? What is indigenous leadership in Harlem? And let's not forget the current (officer/administrator) leadership is one part white, 2 parts latino.
Here's my problem with the argument that's been put forward in some other comments which I think boils down to "Racism is alive and kicking in America, but the responsibility to eradicate it does not lie with white people." If I'm putting words in your mouths, feel free to spit them out.
The percentages may tell a different tale, but caucasians are still the race of power in America. Chewing on this issue with my sister, we came to realize that what's happened in the US since the civil rights movement, is that the issue has become or reverted to a class issue. And now, although on paper, we're all equal and no laws prevent anyone from any part of town from getting ahead, the class system is now definitively color-coded. I'm not sure what's worse--a conservative mindset that expects people of color to pull themselves up by their bootstraps or a liberal mindset that is ok with people of color rising above their circumstances as long as they don't rise too high.
It boils down to this, you can't be anti-racism, but not be doing something about it. There is no passive anti-racism. Anti-racism includes everything from checking our own (culturally) inherited concepts of race to fighting the continued social justice fight to actively getting outside our own racial comfort zones to many more things there isn't space here to list.
You can't say "I believe racism is still an issue" and simultaneously do nothing to stem the tide.
"Racism is alive and kicking in America, but the responsibility to eradicate it does not lie with white people."
You’re putting words in my mouth.
“It boils down to this, you can't be anti-racism, but not be doing something about it.”
This I agree with.
I am anti-racist, and I am doing something about it. But, beyond using my voting privileges and speaking of the evil of racism to church folks, one of the biggest things I’m doing about it is working with minority young people to try and help them rise above the racism that would keep them down. HOWEVER! One of the ways I am doing this is by trying to take the excuses away from them and to motivate them to take responsibility.
You’re right, we as “caucasians” have a responsibility to pull a chair up to the table for our minority brothers and sisters, but our minority brothers and sisters must also take responsibility. If they don’t, it will not matter what we do.
There is a saying by Oswald Chambers, "We cannot attain to a vision, we can only live in the inspiration of it until it accomplishes itself." Perhaps with the passing of Corretta Scott King we could all recall Dr. King's dream.
I remember a few years back Phil and I attempted a multi-cultural young adult monthly worship meeting. We thought that by bringing a planning committee together of different backgrounds we would cause the whole meeting to be multi-cultural. But in some cases our obvious attempts at bridging the cultural gaps became laughable. For instance one caucasian guest speaker hugged an African american while stating "your my friend." And there were other occassions that were similar.
I don't point this out to make fun of the speaker. I say this to say our whole understanding of racism is so shallow and the issue is so deep. It will take positive action as Drew says but it will also take repentance, heart change and growth over an extended period of time.
So I don't think it is so simple as saying to the lazy poor to get off their tail and get to work or they will starve. I am not sure what spiritual oppression they may be going through that is causing their "laziness." And perhaps some of that spiritual oppression is caused by the power abuse of the elite.
The issues are not easy black and white issues. The problems multi-hued and complex. But I think if we live in the inspiration of "the dream" we will continue to take positive steps both inward and outward towards unity.
We have not talked about the issue (much) of community development. If you want to get people "off their tails" there must be not only opportunity, but availabilty on a local level.
We have done little in the last half-century in the Army in the way of real job training and development of businesses. That has been the hallmark of the Army in the third world and in our history. Remember the match factory Booth bought? If you improve the business climate, the neighborhood tends to improve. Anyone been to Harlem in the last 5 years? The revival is amazing. Churches, the government, and private business have all worked together. It was, however, local church leaders who led the fight.
That's why I see such great opportunity for the Kroc Centers and other initiatives. We must be watchful they are just not gym and swim places.
So what I am saying is simply this. Salvation is not just about individuals. It is about neighborhoods and the environment. If the kingdom is going to come. We must as Christians lead the fight. We must educate ourselves, dedicate ourselves to the cause and work to eradicate systems that oppress while offering a viable alternative. There's the issue.
What are we offering that is any better than words?
Now there's a cogent argument. Thanks Larry.
Nail on the head.
And Tim, I hear you, that you're doing exactly what Larry's describing.
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