The business of race

Of recent Kanye West has been talking out of his ass and stirring up a lot of controversy with threatening and offensive pronouncements about Jews. A lot of his behaviour and what he has been saying has strong hints of clinical paranoia. People have turned on him in droves and he has not made much of an effort to make amends or row back his comments. Multiple businesses and organisations have ended relationships with him in response to the public outcry. He is clearly being hit in the pocket by the reactions to his unconscionable utterances but his reputation is taking an even bigger battering. It remains to be seen if there is any way back for him from casting out that he is currently going through. 

Kanye has been accused of stirring up anti-semitism and giving license to fascists and nazis to show off their bigotry. This might be a bit of a reach because fascists have never needed any encouragement to abuse or attack Jews. While fascists might wholeheartedly agree with Kanye it would appear he is actually getting more obvious and vocal support from Republicans. Republicans have literally hoisted Kanye on their shoulders and showed him around as their gladiator in their war against “wokeness”. While the mainstream is working overtime to cancel Kanye the Republicans are promoting him for all they’re worth. 

Kanye West is currently topping the unpopularity charts but he has an extensive back catalogue of bigoted declarations dismissing the suffering of Black people and criticising the response to historic abuses, and icons in the civil rights struggle. He also routinely mistreats and verbally abuses Black people and women he comes across. It is interesting that even when he was at his most obnoxious he did not receive the wholesale disapproval he is currently experiencing. In fact, businesses were falling over themselves to throw money at him for his questionable creative endeavours. Whether you call him a maverick or a moron businesses had no problem making money off him while Black people and women were the targets of his unsavoury sayings. 

It is only too right that Kanye West is facing censure for his anti-semitism. His behaviour thoughtless and feeds into harmful stereotypes of Jews. However, it is problematic that society in general is a lot more tolerant of prejudice when it is directed at other minorities. We have seen mainstream right wing personalities and politicians try to downplay the murder of George Floyd and the GOP in America have launched an all out onslaught on Critical Race Theory. A lot of the right wing outrage is a concerted effort to deny the reality of prejudice and discrimination suffered by Black people in America. A lot more could be done to address racial inequality and tensions but they would rather put all that effort into covering it up. 

The U.K.’s prime minister’s office recently released a statement saying that Rishi Sunak; the prime minister, does not consider the U.K. a racist country. While it is true that not all people are racist certain groups definitely are and the institutions still show evidence of systemic racism. Health inequalities, disproportionate involvement in criminal justice system, the ‘Windrush Scandal’, and the current animosity towards Critical Race Theory are strong indications of that. These are permitted to persist because the environment we’re in allows it. There is such a strong undercurrent of prejudice towards Black people that many cases of subtle or overt racism towards Black people barely cause a ripple. The business community has figured out that they are better off covering up or just ignoring the issue. Maybe this was what Kanye was hoping for when he decided to give vent to his inner voice.