InTheCapital.com--Kanye West's newest album, released to critical acclaim, may come across as shocking for some Americans for its aggressive criticism on the state of race relations in America today. From the track titles "Black Skinhead", to "New Slaves", to his sampling of Nina Simone's cover of the civil right's song "Strange Fruit" (which is about Southern lynchings), Kanye is bringing the controversy of the presence of an African American underclass to the forefront. Well it turns out that recent statistics featured in a highly circulated Daily Beast story may just validate his outrage.
An incredible investigative article in the Daily Beast published recently entitled "The Fight for Black Men" uses a jarring statistic in its study into the state of African Americans living in America today. Apparently there are more blacks on probation, parole, or in prison today than were slaves in 1850 (there were 4 million slaves at the time of the Emancipation Proclamation). More African American men are unable to vote due to criminal records now than in 1870 when Jim Crow laws were running rampant. These large scale problems are even more disturbing at the local level; in areas of Chicago for example, 80% or more African-American men are considered "felons for life" under the law.
These statistics have not gone unnoticed by pop culture. From Tupac to Eminem to Kendrick Lamar, there are a number of artists who use the popularity of their music in disadvantaged communities to create commentary on everything from gun violence to poverty to racism. Kanye West has never shied away from controversial topics in his music. His 2004 hit "Jesus Walks" catapulted West to the forefront of political rap for its lyrics promoting Christianity as a source of comfort for communities suffering from injustices. In Kanye West's latest album, the song "New Slaves" takes on a much more aggressive, yet highly pertinent political stance. Through the course of the track, West describes the racism of his mother's era, and argues that it has been replaced by a new racism carried out via corporations trying to keep the black populations in poverty, and the for-profit prison system that is trying to keep them in chains.
So what's to be done? When cultural icons like Kanye West are expressing legitimate outrage over social conditions that are proven by statistics, things have to come to a head. Community factors such as unfair drug laws, absent fathers, and the cycle of poverty may partly explain why some African American populations are struggling in America today, but those "answers" (if you can call them that) are reactionary, and fail to look at the 200 plus years of history. While the Civil Rights Movement helped blacks achieve legal equality, it was only a step in the right direction, not the end of the road. So long as this country continues to accept the deep cultural norm that African Americans are (take your pick) criminals, poor, and uneducated, these horrible misconceptions will become self-actualized.
So the next time you listen to your favorite rap song, pay attention to the lyrics. You may be getting more educated in the world's injustices than you think.
Posted By: Siebra Muhammad
Friday, June 21st 2013 at 12:20PM
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