Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Speaking Out
It's been a bit difficult to process what's been going on lately with respect to Hurricane Katrina. I can't even imagine what it must have been like to be in Mississippi, Louisiana, or Alabama over the past week or so.Harder still is to imagine being in New Orleans, and witness an entire city fall into chaos. Local officials demanding federal support day by day, while life continued to slip away.
The news media showed suprising diligence, grilling federal officials on their ineptitude. Press conferences, it seemed, were the only medicine
Then, one man stood up amidst the chaos.
One man dared to speak out and say what was on the minds of so many.
"George Bush does not care about Black people."
Kanye West single handedly delivered one of the most classic moments of live television history. After going off-script, and giving a heart-felt, emotion filled sermon on the state of affairs, Kanye capped it off with a bold indictment of the President of the United States.
Now, some may say that regardless of the accuracy of his statements, the time and place were not appropriate. That may be true, but if Kanye West had said the same thing on an MTV interview, would everyone be talking about? Sure maybe the 18-34 year old fan base that MTV relies on anyway. Or if he had same the same thing in an interview with BET, he'd basically be preaching to the choir. The time and place of Kanye's statements were as effective as the words he spoke.
For all of the social problems we have in the United States of America, I love and cherish the First Amendment.
Don't let Kanye stand alone. Use your First Amendment right to speak out.
Read or Post a Comment
The fiasco surrounding the government’s handling of Katrina survivors has raised a lot of interesting questions about race in America today.
At my blog, I have asked the question “Does Race Matter?” A lot of conservatives have chimed in, but I am also interested what you think. Drop me a line!