Of Course Kanye West is Wrong

George Bush doesn't hate black people. He hates poor people. It just so happens in this case, the poor people suffering are predominately black. Aw, fuck it, I don't even know if George Bush hates poor people. I will say this for him, though. He's got to be the most incredibly tone-deaf president we've had in my lifetime, if not in the history of American Presidents. Was there any more of a defining "let them eat cake" moment than seeing people, mostly black, still dying like dogs in the streets of New Orleans, hearing stories about children, mostly black, being raped, watching the National Guard slowly roll in to finally provide some help to people, mostly black, even now, knowing that under all that rubble, all that water, are thousands of dead bodies, many of them African American, and the President is talking about rebuilding Trent "I wish a segregationist had won the presidency 'cause things sure would have been different now" Lott's house so he can fucking sit on the porch?! Truly, America, how could you witness that and still not be dumbfounded? Sarcastro said it to be a jackass in one way and I'll say it to be a jackass another way. Race is the unspoken factor in this tragedy. Not just because of who the majority of the victims are, but because of our response to the crisis in New Orleans. People were all upset that the folks in New Orleans weren't properly behaving while suffering. Now they're all upset that Kanye West didn't properly behave during the telethon. Well, America, we don't get to dictate how black people feel about things. We don't get to control black people. We don't get to judge whether not they're sufficiently grateful for the pittance they have, sufficiently grateful for our whole nation's paltry response to a tragedy that has a significant black face. If you would withhold funds from any charity because some man, even some rich black man, had the courage to let down his guard, deviate from the "proper" script, and grieve right there all raw and unbecoming in front of the whole world--to say "even I'm a heartless bastard who went shopping while people were dying," to say "where the fuck was the president?" to get upset and angry and to stand there for one moment honest in front of the world--if you would not donate money because some fucker had the guts to say what he felt, even if you don't like it, then you are as tone-deaf about race as your President.