Kanye West is known to do
outlandish things that never cease to shock the public. It works like a charm,
every time, and we are always entertained. His actions, his words and his
mannerisms are very hard to predict but when will we stop acting so surprised?
Kanye has made it clear to his audience that if he has a statement to make, it
will be made, and last week’s events were no different from the rest.
Last Tuesday, Kanye was seen sporting a
jacket with the Confederate flag shining in all its glory on his right sleeve.
Ironically enough, this happened at about the same time that Kanye slandered
Barney’s for racially profiling in its stores. Now, before I get to how I feel about
the charade, let’s get to the general public point of view. From all the
articles I have read and all the newscasts I have seen, public opinion is split
between two sides: publicity stunt and “cultural hero”. On the one hand, you
might cry publicity stunt because Kanye is known for his antics; he needs to
stay in the public eye to, (say it with me) make money. As long as Kanye
remains a household name, he is getting called for photo shoots, commercials,
advertisements, sponsorships and the list goes on. Not that we don’t talk about
him enough as it is but it would make sense for him to pull a stunt like this.
West takes it even further by
placing the Confederate flag on his tour merchandise. We’re talking t-shirts,
sweaters, snapbacks, etc. which leads us to believe that this could be a
marketing technique as well. On the other hand, some people see Kanye as the one
person who looks out for the Black community. As an African-American, once you
dig deeper, I can see how this could be a positive action that most people
could take as a negative at face value. For example, take the N-word. People
outside of our culture don’t understand why some of us use it. African-Americans
sought to take that word that has such a negative connotation in our history,
and turn it into something more endearing. Then we face the problem of “Well if
you can use the word, why can’t I?” from non-African-American people. There’s a
whole lot of controversy that comes with this, but you should understand the
point I’m trying to get across. Kanye may be trying to abolish an ugly symbol
that has lasted too long in our history.
As for
my thoughts, I believe Kanye has every opportunity to carry out the latter.
Whether or not he is aware of this opportunity remains unknown. And even if he
is, his statements in previous interviews give me the impression that he
doesn’t really care. But that could be a bluff as well. I want to believe that
Kanye has every intention to set the bar for African-Americans to succeed,
however I need to see the fruits of that labor. If you are going to call
yourself God, if you are going to flaunt the Confederate flag, have an end
purpose to it all. Otherwise, the amount of ruckus that was made on your behalf
was in vain, and these actions will just be thrown into the same pile as the
Miley Cyrus’s or Lindsay Lohans. There will be no accomplishments made. I don’t
want Kanye to be a walking oxymoron, exploiting those who he claims to support
just for the sake of self-gain. What happens when Caucasians start wearing the
flag as a fashion statement? Will not history repeat itself (as irony would
have it)? Who knows, maybe I set my sights too high for someone who has no
filter… ever. Only time will tell. What do you think? Is this a stunt, stirring
up controversy for some publicity or taking back a negative symbol that has
been in the African-American culture for years?
- Ashley Germain