Kanye and Katrina

"You gotta love it though somebody still speaks from his soul:-Kanye West from the song "Diamonds of Sierra Leone"

People would think that Kanye West and I have a lot in common, we both grew up on real Hip Hop, we are both pretty fucking arrogant, and we are both self described assholes. But to be totally honest I am kind of indifferent to Mr. West, which I actually think is worse than hatred because at least hatred invokes an emotion. But when Kanye let out the following diatribe during a benefit concert on NBC Friday night for the hurricane victims, I have a whole new respect for the Chicago MC:

"I hate the way they portray us in the media. We see a black family, it says they're looting, see a white family, it says they're looking for food. And you know it's been five days because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about, I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation. So now I'm calling my business manager right now to see what's, what is the biggest amount I can give. And and, just to imagine, if I was, if I was down there and those are, those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything, that we can help. With the set up, the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well off as slow as possible. I mean this is, the Red Cross is doing what they can. We already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war right now fighting another way. And they've given them permission to go down and shoot us."

Then after Mike Myers who was alongside Kanye read from the teleprompter, Kanye West ended it with the following salvo:

"George Bush doesn't care about black people."

Let me tell you, I haven't cheered that hard since Public Enemy gave the proverbial finger to John Wayne and Elvis Presley in the song "Fight the Power" during the opening credits of Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing." Listen, I know that Kanye will probably spend the bulk of his career being socially insignificant, but to hear someone say what so many of us believe is quite refreshing. To see a performer have the balls to say something like that without fear of being "Dixie Chicked" is dope in my book.

So this morning I got up and checked out some conservative blogs, especially black conservative blogs to see what they were saying about Kanye West's rant. Of course they not only called Kanye everything from an idiot to an asshole, the black republican blogs predictably put on the black face and continued to apologize for "massa". Mostly saying shit like, "Bush doesn't care about black people?? yeah right Buddy, shut your mouth!!"

But lets wait a minute here, lets break down the legacy of our favorite draft dodger in chief. For one thing, when Bush was Governor of Texas there were over 150 executions. He would only spend minutes looking at the file, then he would hand it over to Alberto Gonzales. There were at least three cases where the defense attorney fell asleep during the case and the state of Texas refused to review it. Call me crazy, but just imagine all the innocent black men that were electrocuted.

I remember people saying, "I'm voting for Bush because of his morals!"

Then we have the fact that Bush is the first president since Warren G Harding to refuse to address the NAACP. Of course the NAACP came out against Bush, but they also came out against Reagan, even more so, and he still spoke in front of them. I have never seen a man that is supposed to be a leader, who is scared shitless of criticism of any kind.

I remember people saying around November, "I'm voting for Bush because he is for the people!!"

Now we have Hurricane Katrina, which not only was predicted to be a damaging hurricane where the Mayor called for an evacuation, but there are other mysteries around Bush's late response time. For one thing, FEMA(Federal Emergency Management Agency) warned of three of the most likely catastrophic disasters facing the U.S. before September 11th. 1. A terrorist attack on New York City 2.Flooding in New Orleans and 3.A San Francisco earthquake.(check besides 1 and 2) So besides knowing that the levies were weak, he not only underfunded Fema but merged it somehow into The Department of Homeland Security.

I remember people saying around November, "I'm voting for Bush because he is a leader!"

So we knew that the hurricane was going to be serious business last Friday and Bush not only made a big deal about cutting his vacation short, went golfing, played guitar along some country and western singer, briefly mentioned the disaster during a speech he gave, this is about as worse as the 7 minutes he spent looking like a deer in headlights in that classroom on 9/11. The response time is appalling as dead bodies are floating in the water, people are starving to death, and any other horrible thing imaginable. But then again no one has seen that miserable bastard Dick Cheney, and Condi Rice's Aunt Tomasina ass is off seeing a Broadway play and buying expensive shoes while a national tragedy is going on. The incompetence is amazing.

I remember when people said they were voting for Bush because "John Kerry looked french!"

Lastly, a good friend of mine name Malcolm is missing from the tragedy that we all know as Katrina. He got caught in the storm trying to desperately find his fiancee, now days later no one has heard from him. I desperately hope that he is OK, but things aren't looking too good. I spent a great amount of time today sitting alongside Malcolms mother, a woman whom I've known since I was 6 years old. As she clutched my hand and cried relentlessly I shed a few tears as well, not only because my good friend is possibly one of the casualities down there, but because I felt helpless as my good friends mother sobbed uncontrollably, gripping my hand tighter as each tear fell down he wrinkled face. Hopefully, my Bush bashing aside if you are a supporter of his, do what I did and give whatever you can to the people affected by this tragedy.

So, like it or not, I agree with Kanye West when he says that Bush doesn't care about black people. I'm sure if the location changed from New Orleans to Salt Lake City Utah, the response time would be rather different. But hey, that's just me, a throat-chopping black bastard with a blog.