Yesterday’s post on Kanye West got a great deal of attention on social media, much of it negative. Today I want to broaden that discussion, as I think it is a mistake to focus solely on Kanye West, rather than on the broader question of whether or not it is acceptable, in today’s society, for African Americans to think for themselves. To me, the right of African Americans to have freedom of thought, even when those thoughts are conservative, is one of the biggest civil rights issues of our day. This is bigger than just Kanye West.
But first, allow me to grant some things to my critics.
I have to admit that I am not a Kanye West fan. I’m more of a classic rock fan, and though I have heard Kanye West sing Bohemian Rhapsody, I did not think Kanye West did as good of a job as did Freddie Mercury. Kanye West may have in fact done the worst cover since Madonna decided to take on Don McLean’s American Pie. I’m not into rap, so those who say I cannot understand Kanye West without understanding his rap music make a fair point. I do not pretend to understand Kanye West.
Let’s change the subject just a little, and instead of Kayne West, let’s talk about the following names:
Thom
as Sowell
Walter Williams
Condi Rice
Alan Keyes
Larry Elder
Stacey Dash
Clarence Thomas
Michael Steele
These are just a handful of names of prominent African American conservatives off the top of my head. I could list many more. The specific names aren’t important. What is important is that the beating conservative African Americans take in liberal circles represents a national disgrace. Disagreement is fine, but those who attack conservative African Americans, or members of any minority group, on racial grounds, based purely on political disagreements, should be ashamed of themselves. Such attacks need to stop.
Only a fool would deny that the left treats conservative African Americans with more contempt than white conservatives. Just as one example, Thomas Sowell is almost as accomplished an economist as was Milton Friedman, and with nearly identical views to Milton Friedman’s. Does anyone doubt that if Thomas Sowell were white, he would be as respected by society as was Milton Friedman? In conservative circles Thomas Sowell is considered one of the greatest living economists in the world, but on the left he is dismissed as an ‘Oreo,’ and ‘Uncle Tom,’ based solely on his political views, and he is dismissed no matter how well he may support his views.
Kanye West was correct when he said that Barrack Obama, as President, did absolutely nothing to help the African American community. If anything, conditions in our inner cities got worse under Barrack Obama. Kanye West expressed hope that Trump would improve those conditions. Like it or not, but Trump is our President, and it is only rational to hope that Trump improves the economic conditions of our inner cities. Anyone can disagree with Kanye West on any number of issues, but anyone who disagrees with Kanye West on this issue needs to rethink their priorities.
I think that improving the economic conditions in our inner cities is the single most pressing need our nation faces. The quality of education being delivered in our inner cities is substandard, when compared to the education being delivered in our suburbs. The crime rates in our inner cities are too high. There are not enough economic opportunities in our inner cities (and by a margin that should turn our collective stomachs). These three things are inter-related, such that we have to address all of them together. Why should anyone, regardless of ethnicity, be personally berated and attacked, for having honest opinions on how to solve such problems?
Does attacking police officers lower the crime rates in our inner cities? No – of course not. When police are attacked, they refuse to do their jobs, lest they become the next YouTube sensation, and crime rates go up, and yet attacking the police is exactly what liberals do.
Does continuing to force inner city children to go to the same, failing schools, improve the educational opportunities in the inner cities? One may argue that improving those public schools would improve the educational opportunities, but one cannot argue that keeping the public schools the same, while forcing more students to use the public schools, will do anything but make the problem worse, and yet that is what liberals call for.
Does continuing to over-tax businesses encourage them to return to the inner cities? Does continuing to have a minimum wage encourage employers to relocate to the inner cities? If the better educated workers are in the suburbs, and you use prevailing wage laws and minimum wages to ensure that workers in the suburbs are no more expensive than less educated workers in the inner cities, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out where businesses will want to locate. There are better ways to help low skill workers achieve a ‘living wage’ than with prevailing wage laws and minimum wages, and if you are interested in reading about other, better ways to accomplish the same goal, I urge you to read The Case Against the Minimum Wage. With better solutions available, why does the left only want to discuss minimum wages? Again and again, failing systems are the only ones liberals are interested in.
You would almost think Democrats want to keep African Americans in poverty. You would almost think that by getting people to focus on blame, rather than on solutions, Democrats keep people voting Democrat, whereas if we actually solved some of those problems, more people would become Republicans.
You would almost think that the Democrat platform is a sham.
Frankly, I consider it a national disgrace that African Americans are not allowed to form their own opinions in today’s America. Allowing African Americans freedom of opinion may be the single biggest civil rights issue of our day.
We all live in the same America, and we all see the same problems. We all want to solve those problems. How about we all agree to allow civil civic discourse with regard to possible solutions? How about we stop trying to shut conservative voices – and particularly black conservative voices – down?
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