Yeezy, Diamond, Silk, and the “free thought” of Black Republicanism
At the intersection of race, hip-hop, and politics
Rapper Kanye West made waves recently with his expressed support of Donald Trump on Twitter. A brief lovefest between the rapper and the president ensued online which sparked controversy within the hip-hop, political, and African-American communities. If you look at Kanye West’s history of music this may not necessarily be surprising. In 2009’s “Flashing lights” Kanye raps “You fired mothafucka Donald Trump ni**a”. He also featured a nude image of trump in bed with other celebrities in a promotional photo for his song “Famous.” Trump and West also share the fact that they have been publicly admonished by President Barack Obama at one point, “They say I was the abomination of Obama’s nation”
With this history, it’s no surprise that Kanye West has some admiration for Donald Trump. This has sparked a flirtation between a popular rapper and right-wing political pundits that would have been unimaginable about 20 years ago. Kanye recently gotten the attention of Turning Point USA’s Candace Owens who oftentimes downplays the role of racism and police violence against civilians and said that “He likes the way she thinks” Kanye went even further with his comments that “Slavery was a choice”
A comment like that would draw a particular ire, especially from the African-American community. Kanye responded by tweeting screenshot of a conversation between him and John Legend politely asking him to reconsider his viewpoints and saying he is being attacked for being a “Free thinker”
The phrase “Free thinker” may sound benign, but it is a phrase that has been used in similar contexts time after time to describe a deviation from political norms by certain demographics. The phrase “Free thinker” has been used by commentators on the right to admonish African Americans for their overwhelming support for the Democratic Party. Two of Trump’s few black surrogates, the famous Diamond and Silk duo are fond of using an even more crude rendition of this idea, “escaping the democratic plantation.” The narrative behind that is that democrats supposedly “mentally enslave” black people with welfare and “identity politics” and keep them supposedly dependent on government and on them for votes.
These often repeated tropes say something in a crude manner of how political coalitions are formed.
Nearly nine out of ten African-American voters regularly vote for the democratic presidential candidate. In 2016, Hillary Clinton received 89% of the African American vote. In 2012 Barack Obama received 93% of the Black vote. In fact, no republican has won more than 20% of the African-American vote since 1960. With such an overwhelming leaning towards one-party, black republicans are often breaking a norm and find ways of explaining why there are so few of them.
Democrats, having previously been associated with the Jim Crow system and slavery, have won over black voters starting with the New Deal under FDR in the 30’s and their support of civil rights in the 40’s culminating with the 1964 passage of the civil rights act. Conversely, Republicans have began alienating African-American voters with the embrace of the southern strategy by making coded, dog-whistle appeals to racially resentful whites, many of whom voted Democratic in the past.
Revisiting the trope of “free thought”, often used by the right to describe deviation from conventional black political behaviour that favors the left, should be unpacked thoroughly. That phrase implies that african-americans do not think for themselves and are bounded by groupthink or “mental enslavement” to vote the way that they do. Would insulting the intelligence of a demographic be a good strategy to win them over? Absolutely not, the purpose of people like Candace Owens and the Diamond and Silk duo is not of persuasion, but of reassurance. The right, often fairly, sometimes unfairly, repeatedly faces accusations of racism from the left. Some of it is due to the use of the southern strategy and dog-whistle politics and downplaying the effects of systemic racism. Although some on the left attack the right as racist for frivolous and unfair reasons sometimes. Their presence is to give cover against accusation of racism. “We’re not racist, a black person agrees with us” The political equivalent of the “I have a black friend defense”
That is not to say that all politicians on the right are bad for racial justice. Republican senators Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, and Tim Scott have spoken about the need to address racial issues and police brutality and deserve credit for this. However, the broader trend of cultural politics on the right as practiced by Donald Trump, alienates people of color very effectively. The presence of prominent black conservative pundits such as Diamond and Silk, and candace Owens is not persuade african-americans to support the GOP in-good faith. They are an insurance policy to defend against accusations of racism.
Being so repulsed by the GOP that must mean African-Americans are so enthralled by the Democratic Party right? Not exactly. It can be said that the Democratic party at times, has taken african-american support for granted. Some policies by Democratic politicians such as the 1994 crime bill have been argued as being disproportionately harmful to black americans. Perhaps black americans would be better served if both parties actively competed for their votes and had their interests at heart.
Although, in our two-party system we have one party that relies on racial resentment and intentionally wants to block black voters from the polls, and the other party at least seems to care about racial justice perhaps genuinely, perhaps performatively. It is no surprise why African-American choose one party over the other in droves. More rational self-interest than mental enslavement.
