Kanye West for President

"To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious, is to be in a rage almost all the time." -James Baldwin

I'm in recovery from Hurricane Katrina. Yeah..I know...I am physically nowhere near the disaster, so why should I be affected? But as you can see in my posts below, this has been a hard week for me. All the following quotes in bold are by James Baldwin.

I am so proud of Kanye West. "Appearing two-thirds through the NBC Telethon program, he claimed “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” and said America is set up “to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow as possible.”

I had this like/dislike thing for Kanye before. When I heard what he had to say about homosexuality and Sierra Leone, I said to myself, "This negro is really trying to make a name for himself." But I didn't think thatKanye really stood behind what he was saying. After Friday night's telethon (which I usually don't watch) for the Katrina victims, I have formed a new serious respect for him. Kanye didn't read no tele-prompter. He used the opportunity of being on live TV to really say what millions of Americans were feeling all week. The White American Government could give 2 shits about Blacks or those with a low income status. This includes their own fucking people.I'm cussing again....but I'm still pissed. Mr. West clearly articulated what many of us were shouting at the TV screens in our homes.

But in watching the media coverage, I see the reporters ask these white men who are in charge of FEMA, HHS, and Homeland Security: "Why did it take so long to get these people help and to evacuate them?" Mind you, there are over 100,000 people still stuck in New Orleans alone. Not to mention more people stuck in the projects. These assholes (politicians) have hemmed and hawed over who's responsibilty it was to organize and conduct the crisis. "Oh it's the state's responsibilty...no it's the federal goverment's job." Who gives a fuck who's job it is? When you work at McDonald's (no dig here to anyone), which is one of the lowest paying jobs in the country...if you tell your supervisor, "Nah, I ain't cleaning up the fry station, I make burgers"...your ass would be fired! We need to fire these assholes. One particularly stupid official had the nerve to say "They didn't ask us in a timely fashion." Is he fucking kidding me? I'm in New York, no government job...hell I'm not even a meteorologist...but I knew those folks were gonna need help LAST SATURDAY before the hurricane even hit! They told these people to go here to the Dome...go here to the Convention Center....did they have anything waiting for them? No! Not a drop of water or an evacuation schedule. Maybe I should have asked them...Filled out the necessary paperwork etc....so my people could be saved. This is what Mayor Nagin had to say:

NAGIN: Well, did the tsunami victims request? Did it go through a formal process to request?

You know, did the Iraqi people request that we go in there? Did they ask us to go in there? What is more important?

Ray Nagin is another black man who I have gained respect for. He flat out told them to get off their ASSES!!!! Please take the time to click on the link above and read the whole transcript.


Jesse Jackson took his ass down there. But what they didn't really want to tell you is that he took 7 buses...TO PICK UP STUDENTS FROM XAVIER UNIVERSITY. (which has a 17% minority population) "Jackson headed into New Orleans with state Sen. Cleo Fields and three buses to move 450 students from Xavier University to safer locations outside the city." He stopped over by I90. Talked to the peoples...Looked real mad and pitiful...then left. How in the hell did Jesse get to these people on I90 but our government couldn't? I bash celebrities often on my blog. I have time on my hands and an active imagination. But give me a break! If Oprah could give out cars on her show...travel to Africa and donate all this money...where the fuck was she with 20 buses? Or her private jets? 7 buses Jesse??? Hell...I want to jump in my car and rescue some of those folks myself!

"The power of the white world is threatened whenever a black man refuses to accept the white world's definitions."

The media coverage has got me inscensed. Refugees? That's what they're calling our fellow Americans? Let me give you the three standard definitions of a refugee:

1. One who flees in search of refuge, as in times of war, political oppression, or religious persecution.

2. An exile who flees for safety

3. An individual who has left his or her native country and is unwilling or unable to return to it because of persecution or fear of persecution (as because of race, religion, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion)

These people aren't refugees. they haven't fled to another country because someone was persecuting them. They are victims of a natural disaster. Or that's what I first thought. I now realize that the media is correct. These people are the victims of racist, indifferent government who cares more about everyone else but the people who helped build this country. Remember when Clinton said that "We have no interest in Rwanda"? It looks like they have no interest in Black Americans either. If anything...everyone with a dark shade of skin color or a low economic status is a refugee. We as Black Americans, have been refugees since we were stolen and brought to this country.

I am hereby claiming refugee status. And I may need to seek asylum somewhere else.

I'm taking a Graduate class this semester on James Baldwin. Almost 60 years he correctly classified himself as refugee: disgusted with America's racial injustice, he left in 1948 for Paris, where he lived in poverty for eight years. He exiled himself. He also returned to participate in the Civil Rights Movement.As I continue through this semester, I shall continue to quote Baldwin and other writers who are in my field of study. But I can tell you that being educated does not make me feel any better.

"The paradox of education is precisely this - that as one begins to become conscious, one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated. "

and understanding this...I agree with Baldwin when he said...

"American history is longer, larger, more various, more beautiful, and more terrible than anything anyone has ever said about it. "

History is repeating itself.