Kanye: Contradicting Misogynist or Misunderstood Esotericism?

Hip-hop and rap music have an interesting position in American society. On one side, it’s seen as a terrorizing menace that perpetuates criminal and sexist ideals, and to others it represents a non-conformist voice reflecting urban communities and their right to be heard. I’m getting my feet wet on this particular genre of music and while I’m still just getting acquainted, it hasn’t taken me long to realize there are powerful messages behind the surface that deviates from what most perceive.

Kanye West is a prominent figure in the realm of hip-hop. Controversial, sure, but regardless whether you agree with his methods or not, this guy is artistically brilliant and very socially aware. Without critically analyzing his actions and lyrics, Kanye seems strikingly prideful and pompous with little regard to others. But knowing that nothing is actually as it seems, I caught interest in this bombastic icon. Kanye’s music embraces obscurity and isn’t easily grasped in the light of day. He uses fantasy, satire, and hyperbole to stream together an autobiography or point of view, with little concern to literal translation. This underlines the consideration that rap/hip-hop is, by definition, poetry.

His new video for the song Monster roused a backlash of anger over the obvious use of female exploitation. The apparent displays of violence and brutal sexual treatment toward women caused enough controversy for MTV to ban the video after receiving a slew of petitions. My reaction wasn’t different. I felt puzzled and irritated that someone with a history of powerful metaphors and context would completely degrade his credibility as one who fights injustices of the system. I was curious how someone can fight for the rights of one minority group while slandering another, in tandem, and determined to find a deeper, less offensive meaning.

Let’s think about Kanye’s past involvement with women. The infamous dramatics of interrupting Taylor Swift to defend Beyonce left everyone outraged and left me scratching my head. The whole incident wasn’t that big of a deal… and did anybody consider the fact he was absolutely RIGHT? His context was making a solid point- that black women aren't recognized for their talent as much as white women, even when it's basically unquestionable who's more deserving. Aftermath media stories of a broken up Swift left shaking on stage because of another angry black male were obnoxious. Poor Taylor? Please. I’m sure she’ll figure a way to eventually fight through the mental anguish. Keeping consistent with Kanye’s relation with women, I’m starting to think this video is just exposing the injustices of white women vs. minority women.

I found some insight on the blogosphere that noticed a story being told here. In the video, all of the completely dead women are white, while women of color were in a zombie, otherwise “monster,” state. I see here that Kanye is playing up the role (monster) given to him by America and further suggesting this role doesn’t just yield to the individual, rather a label all people of color have been and are continually stricken with. He’s virtually personifying the role people not only wanted to see, but forced him to embody. Nicki Minaj’s guest appearance is clearly categorizing the roles women have to pick from: Controlling bitch or innocent plaything. There’s an important undertone in the video, like I suspected, but I’m still not sure if I agree with it.

As someone who’s passionate about fighting against injustices and for civil liberties/human rights, I proudly stand in defense of every voice, idea, person that struggles to survive America. Kanye as a self-proclaimed mama’s boy shouldn’t ignore the objectification, backbreaking pressure, standards and boundaries all women are subjected to. Fighting against one "ism" should be fighting against all "isms." He’s become apart of the imperfections he stands against. Remaining secure in one perspective of a group without considering another lens is making the same mistake as the ignorant majority. And by grouping people into a framed judgment is muffling the efforts of progressive rebels fighting alongside. With all this said, there's no doubt that being oppressed in one area doesn't mean you're not privileged in another- and I'm aware my counterpoint is relatively weak, but it's important to consider. Ultimately, my respect Kanye as an artist and an intellect is unwavering, but he’s still evolving and he is holding to ideas that should be provoked. Just probably not ones that the majority disputes- always ignore the majority.

Soldiers Without Swords

The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords is a documentary about the virtual invisibility of African American media and their struggle to get their voices heard. When slavery was abolished, blacks in American had to viciously fight to maintain in society. Life was arguably more grueling as a freedman, especially in the South; there were no means to employment, no wealth distribution, nobody teaching them how to survive, and blitzkriegs for frivolous lawbreaking to remove them from society (the law was essentially a tool for exclusion and expulsion). It was kind of like legally permitting 10-year-olds to drive, discontinuing driver’s education, and then arresting them for turning right on red. With such strong oppression, the black population fought a tough battle to keep their culture alive.

The sheer wonder that media possesses is beyond underrated, but The Black Press is really mind opening. Using a newspaper as a tool to transport ideas, dignity, hope, inspiration is beyond extraordinary and marvelous. It told people how to get jobs, how to get housing, how to manage in the jungle, that no one should stand for the heinous treatment from white people. There was a chance to comeback to the obscenely offensive cartoons and articles in the white papers and a chance to leave a legacy worthy of their respect.

The revolutionized means of communication gave a voice to the profound intellect that was formerly oppressed in the black community. Knowledge otherwise ignored of black history (like how the entire genealogy of the human race has black origins) was surfaced; new scholars now had a medium to talk and teach. The diversity of opinion was a substantial advancement for the growth of not only blacks, but also America as a whole. Without the new range of opinions, Americans were smothered with only one (delusional and senseless) vantage point.

One of the surprising things of The Black Press was the origin of the “Double V” movement. I had recognized it as a Dick Nixon trademark, but had no idea it started in the black media during World War II. As WWII surfaced, America scrambled to recruit as many soldiers as possible, and they didn’t see a chance of winning without the involvement of African-Americans. Under this sudden desperation for compliance, the Double V campaign emerged and exposed the extreme injustice being called for. The Double V’s represented the fight for domestic victory at home, not just overseas- calling for a victory against racism. Why should one risk their life for a country that doesn’t acknowledge their human rights and maintains a conviction of hypocrisy? Why would one fight to better a country that has no intention on bettering their living conditions? This movement encompassed every valid reason for blacks to fight for citizenship at home if they were expected to give their lives for America’s victory.

Even with every valid reason, every logical rebuttal, white America will refute motives that appear undermining. The black media had to proceed with caution, otherwise risk claims of sedition, or behavior deemed with the intent to overthrow established order. The lines of sedition are blurry, akin to the Espionage Act, but the purpose was to outlaw statements during war that were "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive … about the form of government of the United States." Being cautious wasn’t enough for the black media, as their papers got banned from military circulation because the army felt it was dangerous.

The story behind the black press of America is one of heroism and inspiration. In conditions that were dominated by whites and egregious prejudice, the black press persevered with exceeding courage, honor, valor and distinction, fighting a battle that diligently persists today. We can acknowledge this history and regard it as admirable, but to continue as though it doesn’t apply to today is neglecting the bigger principle, and therefore rendering it useless.

Lara Logan and Media Sexism

A few weeks ago, there was an explosive conversation (debate) in my Race, Gender and the Media class. It started with somebody mentioning Lara Logan, the CBS news correspondent who was sexually assaulted while covering the Egyptian protests. Logan, accord­ing to an offi­cial CBS announce­ment, was attacked by a group of about 200 Egyp­tians and “suf­fered a bru­tal and sus­tained sex­ual assault and beat­ing before being saved by a group of women and an esti­mated 20 Egypt­ian sol­diers.” Unfortunately, the reaction to Logan’s tragedy was not of sympathy or respect, rather an intense media debate about women’s place in danger zones. Instead of criticism being focused on the mob who attacked Logan, it was placed directly on Logan herself. This woman was actually assaulted, then blamed for it because she’s attractive, has blonde hair and should have known what she was getting herself into.

Of course, this is disgusting. I have trouble glorifying these comments by acknowledging them. Funny enough, someone in class had the audacity to agree. Basically, this person asked how anyone can really be surprised? Elaborating that this is pretty much expected when you put an attractive female in a barbaric place like Egypt. My (correct) professor went off. Rightfully so! Here’s the problem with this: This woman gets the one of the biggest career opportunities to cover this protest, she’s fiercely competing with men to get this chance, she’s already mustering more courage than most people could think of, and then suddenly she’s supposed to say, “Oh, wait, ya know guys, I’m a woman, this is probably not such a good idea, I mean, I might get raped or something right? Please give me more protection.” Why would she think this? Her job is implicitly dangerous. Suggesting that women need more protection is condemning women as a burden, more expensive to employ and more demanding to protect. Anything could happen at any time, to any human. The fact women are more likely to get raped doesn’t discount that we’re less likely to be a target of murder. There’s possible danger for everybody; saying women need extra protection is vocalizing a difference between men and women and, by definition, is sexist.

The second half to this problem is the assumption, or stereotype, of Egypt as an uncivilized, barbaric country, expected to behave like this. Life in Cairo is actually very progressive and Westernized. Women appear unveiled and have rights and are not, in fact, public raping tools. The combination of this erroneous stereotype and sexism as justification for Lara Logan’s sexual assault is severely flawed.

There is no consolation for a woman that was forced to endure such brutal attacks, but there is seriously no right to blame the victim. The people in my class weren’t malicious for thinking such things, but even the most unconscious sexism is socially toxic.