About Kanye’s Antisemitism, Earned Consequences and Who We Fight For

Kanye West‘s anti-semitism is really going to be his downfall. And rightfully so.

Dude has been out of pocket with what he’s been saying about Jewish people, and I’ve seen a few interviews. His hate speech against Jewish people is awful and we cannot ignore it. We cannot dismiss it as him trolling. And we cannot turn the other cheek about it. When people tell us, “You should ignore Kanye, he’s just trying to troll, he’s just trying to get attention.” That’s not how this works. You don’t ignore hate and say it’s going to go away. Just like you don’t ignore a broken arm and be like, ‘It’s going to heal itself.” That’s not how this works. So we have to call it out swiftly and loudly. His antisemitism is not okay.

His words have consequences and he’s emboldened other people to be loudly anti-Jewish. It is unacceptable, it is trash. And he gets to hide behind artistic expression to be filthy and hateful, and that needs to stop. It’s the type of thing that is WILD to watch because who he is, is the worst type of artist. The ones who can hide behind the subjectiveness of artistic expression to get away with filth and hate.

Now, he’s facing consequences finally. His agents have dropped him, his brand partners have dropped him, he’s getting his closest allies speaking up against him and being like, “We not with him, enough,” rightfully so.

But I also think about the time when Kanye said “slavery was a choice.” And a couple of weeks ago, when he wore the White Lives Matter t-shirt, and people kind of chuckled, it was like, “That’s just him being an artist.”

He didn’t face any of these consequences, but he earned them. He’s earned them years ago!

His anti-Black language was also damaging and dangerous. It was offensive beyond. It’s why Van Lathan went OFF on him in that newsroom. But that language wasn’t enough for him to be de-platformed or to lose millions of dollars in endorsements and partnerships. It wasn’t enough for him to say all sorts of wildness about Black people for folks to rise up in droves to say “ENOUGH.”

I want us to interrogate the reality of who gets fought for and protected. Who gets defended? Who gets allyship for real? Who gets seen and spoken up for? Who gets told, “The things that you are hearing about you are not okay, and we will work to make sure they don’t happen?” We’re all fighting the same systems of oppression. We’re all in bondage. Because none of us are free until all of us are free. So who are we putting our voices on the line for, our power on the line for? Who are we advocating for?

We must fight for each other. We must also fight for ourselves.

This post is a transcript of this video I posted.

P.S. I’ve been calling Kanye out for being a raving asshole for over 8 years. He hadn’t even gotten to be as bad as he is now. Check these 2 out:

• Kanye West Calls Out Fan in Wheelchair For Not Standing Up at Concert (September 2014)
• Jesus is King and Kanye’s a Fool (October 2019)