What Kanye West Really Meant

I am not a fan of Kanye West.  I despise his hip-hop music and the gangster mentality that accompanies it. Furthermore, I have never been impressed with West’s arrogant self-assertion.  He may believe that he is an expert on modern culture, but I do not.

This said, I appreciated Kanye’s praise of Donald Trump.  The implication that authentic Blacks can be conservative is overdue.  As long as African-Americans remain cemented into Democratic Party conformity, their interests are bound to be ignored.

I also enjoyed Kanye’s spirited defense of his right to independent thought.  There has been far too much group-think on the political scene.  Thus, the knee-jerk assumption that folks on the right are always racists, while those on the left never are, is patently absurd.

But then West ostensibly went to far.  He seemed to be saying that Blacks entered slavery voluntarily.  It sounded as if he were alleging that Africans had once stood by their homeland’s shore begging Europeans to put them in chains and transport them into lifelong servitude.

Kanye later sought to walk this back, but his explanation was too confused to gain traction.  My interpretation of his corrected narrative is that it although slavery ended more than a century and a half ago, many Blacks still behave as if they were chattel.

If I’ve got this right, he had a point.  Many conservative commentators have observed that some African-Americans treat the government as if it were a benevolent plantation.  They expect liberal politicians to behave like compassionate masters from whom they can obtain protection and assorted goodies.

All they need do in return for this bounty is to supply unconditional loyalty. As long as they uncritically vote the Democratic line, copious rewards will continue to flow their way.  Except that Kanye had his doubts.  He has come to the conclusion that this sort of dependence robs people of their individuality.

Years ago I wrote a book called Race and Morality.  In it, I explained that slavery had consequences, many of which remain operative. Slavery was a violent system.  It was sustained only by imposing brutal coercion. In other words, it was never voluntary.

Nevertheless resistance could be futile.  It might provoke lethal punishments.  In order to survive, slaves were thus forced to develop a culture that mitigated their distress.  The ways they thought, felt, and behaved were adjusted so that they could endure. Unfortunately, these changes became internalized, where they later hindered personal progress.

A simple example is education.  Under slavery, Blacks were prohibited from reading.  Their masters feared that literacy would facilitate an insurrection.  As a result, most slaves shied away from schooling.  Merely wanting this could prove hazardous to one’s health.

This became an attitude passed down from generation to generation, such that millions of African-Americans continue to distrust education.  As a consequence, many gifted Black students find themselves accused of trying to “act white.” 

Naturally this puts a damper on their learning and economic success.  Although this was not the intention, it has been the outcome.  Moreover, this is pattern is voluntary.  It is not imposed on Blacks by whites.  It is, ironically, something that ordinary people perpetuate without understanding its implications.

Put another way, a culture of slavery that developed hundreds of years ago remains operative.  It continues to have a deadening hold on many inner-city lives.  In destroying strong families, perpetuating interpersonal violence, and discouraging personal initiative, it keeps folks from living up to their potential.

Racism, to be sure, still exists in some quarters and must therefore be excised. But this is not the only problem plaguing poor Blacks.  Even if every vestige of bigotry suddenly disappeared, the inherited attitudes of millions of minority members would reduce their opportunities.

This, I believe, is what Kanye West meant.  He was essentially telling people that if they asserted themselves as individuals, they would discover that their prospects improved.  He was saying that an outmoded pessimism weighs them down, every bit as much as white hostility.

At the very least, this thesis ought not be summarily dismissed. If it is true, it provides another avenue through which to pursue social justice.

Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.

Professor of Sociology

Kennesaw State University