Here’s why Kanye’s message got lost:
President Bush’s well-publicized offense at Kanye West’s statement in the wake of Bush’s initial response to Hurricane Katrina, “President Bush doesn’t care about black people”, is a stunning example of how subtle or “modern racism” plays out among us. West was speaking about the inadequacy of the institutional/structural/symbolic level response of our leader to a crisis that disproportionately affected poor communities of color. President Bush experienced West’s comment as about his personal values. Given Bush’s very public relationship and respect for Condoleezza Rice and (at one point) Colin Powell, I don’t think his personal attitudes are the issue here. I believe that this exchange illustrates the misunderstanding that confrontations about “racism” are primarily challenges about personal level prejudice. Modern racism invites/compels us to look at the impact of institutional and cultural level policies and practices in the often invisible perpetuation of historic and/or current injustice.
If President Bush were to participate in one of our workshops, he could come to see that the despite his personal friendships across race, it is the structural imbalances that led to Katrina and its deplorable aftermath; these are what need to be named and addressed systemically if racism is to end in this country. These imbalances are old and embedded in policy AND for many years they have continued to be ignored by governmental leaders, furthering the illusion that racism need only be addressed at the personal level. This institutional lack of prioritization has the impact of making equal access to opportunity less possible for many of our citizens. This is systemic racism and can be practiced by any of us, no matter how much we abhor personal racism. This is the type racism/oppression we must confront in the 21st century, and it exists in many forms. In this sense, Kanye West was right!
Filed under: Uncategorized, Kanye West, Katrina and its deplorable aftermath, modern racism, President Bush, racism
I agree fully with your analysis of President Bush’s misperception of Kanye’s comments. Unfortunately, Mr. Bush was not alone in his limited understanding. A four day workshop could benefit many,. Thanks
Jim Turner
Thank you for your interest.