Cancelling Kanye is easy, cancelling systemic white supremacy is much harder

The Thursday Thoughts!

As Kanye "Ye" West's financial portfolio continues to drop in the wake of controversial statements that he has made in recent weeks about Jews and Judaism, a popular sentiment that has arisen among social media users has been comparing how quickly Kanye has been cancelled by his corporate masters for expressing anti-Semitic remarks—despite years of making billions of dollars while making anti-Black remarks in public speeches?

That social media sentiment is DEEP, and exposes a DEEP failure among the Black community writ large to protect our culture, our history, and our future from folks who would pimp the same to make a dollar. 

A major portion of our collective failure to "guard the gate" stems from the fact that too many of us worship celebrities in a way that gives them passes for abhorrent acts or comments that cut against any semblance of common decency. More specifically, I blame my very own Generation X, and myself, for helping to popularize certain aspects of the rap music genre that denigrates Black culture, defiles Black women, and has left subsequent generations of different races believing that what is described in those lyrics actually is the sum total of who Black people are—and what it means to be Black in America. 

Some may read the preceding paragraph and think, "Hobbs, why should you care about what non-Black people think about Kanye or any other rap artist's lyrics?" While a solid question, my simple answer is that folks treat us the way that they see us. Meaning, the indifference that happens when Blacks are incarcerated at higher rates, killed by the police at higher rates, or are discriminated against in school, housing, and lending at higher rates, stems from the fact that non-Blacks see little value in our humanity and our culture other than to make them dance and laugh at songs like Kanye's popular "N*ggas in Paris," or arguably Kanye's most popular lyric,"I ain't saying she's a gold digger, but she ain't messing with no broke N*gga."

“They treat us like they see us…” Hobbs, ‘22

To my chagrin, there are some really intelligent Blacks who sincerely believe that Kanye is "a marketing genius." These ones have given the mercurial music mogul passes when he designed clothes that brandished the Confederate Battle Flag... 

These ones said "that's just 'Ye being 'Ye" when he stated that "slavery was a choice..."

Diss ad posted by 50 Cent after 'Ye made his foolish comments about our enslaved ancestors choosing to remain enslaved in 2018.

These ones saw business advantages to 'Ye supporting Donald Trump, even when the former president was calling Black NFL players "ungrateful Sons of Bitches," and blasting "rat infested" Black cities and "shit-hole" African nations (as if Trump's native New York City and Mar-a-Lago are free from vermin and other pests)…

These one joked that Kanye would make millions off of the "White Lives Matter" shirts that he and fellow quisling Candace Owens wore just last month…

These ones still believe that even 'Ye's recent "cancellation" is a part of some genius plan to make even more money by getting out of his contractual entanglements. Which would be plausible if, a day after the financial downfall began, 'Ye hadn’t tried to strike a deal with "Skechers" to sell his shoes—only to be rebuffed by a company that's owned by a family that practices Judaism—and has a zero tolerance towards anti-Semitism policy.

And yet, despite all of Kanye's slights against Black culture and Black people, far too many Black folks are still willing to not just give him a pass—but to keep buying his music, his clothing products, and his shoes! As such, it should come as no surprise that no major corporations cancelled Kanye for his deplorable comments about his own race because I'm sure they figure that if Black folks are not raising a fuss about it, why should they raise a fuss?

Those who know me know that I cancelled Kanye long ago and while I am no psychiatrist and do not know whether he is bipolar—or just a jackass—either way, none of my money goes to support him or his causes.

I often dream of the day that Black people can stand in unity and cancel all cancers to the culture, folks like 'Ye, Herschel Walker, and Candace. Which is why my stomach turns when 'Ye, a man with a following beyond most, uses his platform to diss our Black ancestors, or to blame “Jewish Zionists” for "owning the Black voice," while adding, “the Jewish community, especially in the music industry…they’ll take us and milk us till we die."

'Ye and Herschel are variations on an anti-Black theme…

The real tragedy in 'Ye's anti-Semitic remarks is that there are some Black celebrity worshippers who actually believe every single word that spilled from his mouth, this despite the fact that 'Ye became a billionaire working alongside some of the same people that he ignorantly disses and arrogantly challenges by saying "Adidas can't cancel me."

Welp, in short order, Kanye has been cancelled by Adidas, TJ Maxx, Balenciaga, pro athletes Aaron Donald and Jaylen Brown, and Gap. Still, Kanye's cancellation was easy because at the end of the day, while he has a powerful ability to influence his followers, he has no REAL power to effect lives in the same way that bigoted politicians, like Florida Gov. Ron Desantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, or bigoted corporate honchos and banking executives, have on a daily basis. Which is why it is important that while we discuss this or that from the celebrity world for fun and a break from monotony, that we stay focused on cancelling the more powerful bigots who impact our singular and collective bottom lines.