Van Lathan is doing God’s work because I would have already put my hands on Kanye & proved his black-on-black comments correct.
Thank. You. Van. Lathan.
Growing up and being from the exact same neighborhood in Chicago as Kanye – this really gets to me.
Kanye never comes here. He never comes back home. Sure he may stop here for a concert or something. But he doesn’t see the parents and children marching against violence in the exact same streets he used to walk. He never gives back to the communities affected by violence so that maybe kids won’t have to continuously grow up either living in fear or turning to a life of violence out of desperation. It’s hard for the people to combat these things in their own neighborhoods. Can you imagine someone you grew up with or saw grow up turn to a life of violence and try and convince them otherwise? It’s hard because at the same time you can kind of relate. Growing up never having nor expecting much. Businesses don’t invest in the area. The school system is broken and poorly funded. Police are basically a gang of their own, just with badges.
For him to not even acknowledge the systematic issues that even contribute to these things…
In my most honest and humble opinion, he hasn’t been the same since his mom passed away. She was his anchor. He’s obviously not sought the right kind of help. I know he mentioned he’s his own therapy, but that’s just not good. It’s saddening to see someone you grew up admiring slowly turn mad and lose their way in the spotlight and be eclipsed by their own toxic narcissism. And that’s where I think his liking for Trump comes in. He’s like one of them “I made it out of the hood” stories you hear about.
We DO have Chance The Rapper, tho. He’s not afraid to match his words with his actions. He’s not afraid to speak out against our mayor and our state reps. He donates money to our poorly funded public school system (which is mostly comprised of POC students) all because our politicians can’t seem to agree on a budget, but they can agree on closing several schools around the city and renovating them into lofts for sale/rent. Or building a brand new multi-million dollar police academy. Chance holds free concerts. He gives out free school supplies to children who need them. He sometimes calls for no violence weekends (which actually work). He’s on the streets of the city he’s from. Always doing something to give back or help. And I understand Chance looks up to Kanye. Hell, most of us do here. But it’s become impossible to defend him.
Beautifuldifferences 