Kanye West And George Bush
...by Kanye West in the news that centered around Hurricane Katrina and George Bush's lack of care for black people in New Orleans that may have led to a delayed reaction to the crisis was met with much controversy. I believe Kanye West's motivations for making such comments centered on his frustration with the situation, along with the depiction of black men as looters in the media and a general conception of black culture in America that pits them as second class citizens in the United States.
I believe he made such a comment in order to bring attention to the fact that since New Orleans is a poor area and received such little support in comparison to the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C. I think he wants to make the argument that if New Orleans were settled by rich whites, there would have been a much quicker response to the disaster. In addition, I believe he made that comment with the sentiment that the black man has always received second class treatment and that the white man naturally tends to distrust or to mistreat the black man. Looking at the plight of the black community in America, Kanye West wanted to make the connection that there was a disaster of epic proportions, and that it was no coincidence that it happened to an area which is predominantly black. In addition, since George Bush is a white, conservative president, it was a fairly obvious link in his mind between what happened, and who was in charge, and why it happened to New Orleans, which has a large black population. To Kanye West, George Bush is the man keeping the black man down.
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