Kanye West, Slave Choices, and Enslaved Minds
Kanye West says, with a straight face, that Black Americans had a ‘choice’ about being enslaved, and that they are still enslaved in their minds. I believe he is very wrong on the first comment, but partially right on the second.
First of all, those ‘choices’ he spoke of. Quite simply, if one is enslaved (forcibly deprived of one’s freedom) how can there be real choices for that person? Unless West does not understand the meaning of enslavement and incarceration?
However, an ugly legacy from slavery has left sporadic areas of covert and overt racism, which is not being dealt with, is pervasive in its influence, and deleterious in its effects. It has left both White and Black American communities enslaved in their minds, as he added, stuck in a time warp of superiority vs inferiority, the old master and slave scenario, being played out daily in America in countless other ways.
For example, one only has to look at the private prisons and the sheer numbers of Blacks incarcerated in them to see this slave legacy at its worst. Obviously, in the White enslaved mind that still fears Black skin colour, the safest place for a Black person is prison or the grave, judging by the expendable way in which their lives are treated.
There can also be no equality without reference to the past and the history of a nation. To give any Black person a real fighting chance to progress, that history has to be acknowledged, faced, and dealt with without too much accusation or self-righteousness. But with many people refusing to face up to the fact that racism is alive and well in the country, and is still affecting people's lives, there are sporadic incidents that keep reminding the population of that fact, like the routine killings of Black males, and police being called simply for someone being Black and sitting in Starbucks, or being a paid-up member of a gym!
We are shaped by our cultures, communities and societies. No matter what is happening in our immediate families, we are more influenced by what is happening around us, because that is what we experience. We all wish to belong and hence we choose the associations carefully that reflect who we are, what we think, and what we hope to be. For White people to pretend that the privileges they have gained through slavery, the ones that have affected the way they live, won't affect how they see the victims, and enablers, of that lifestyle, is simply wishful thinking. While people are blinded by their own fears and prejudices, or sense of entitlement, they will not be treating others they regard as undeserving with the respect they deserve.
Both White and Black can release their minds from the ongoing enslavement negative perception through a clear acknowledgement of their shared unequal experience, especially the part the legacy of such atrocities plays in hampering the progress of a community, with a genuine desire to learn from the past, while forging a new and more positive future. Not to deny it, mask it, bury it, justify it, or pretend slavery never happened, or that the slaves had a ‘good’ life! It really, really did happen, and one group of people benefited from it, while one group suffered from it, purely through their colour.
Like it or not, race is a constant reminder of America's torrid history. It permeates everything in a country that is mixed and diverse, because minorities will always be fighting for parity with the majority controllers of society. That is inevitable where there are scarce resources amid stiff competition for territory, status and the trappings of success.
The main action now to free our minds from mental slavery is to appreciate the enormous negative consequences of Black slavery through the years to our current time, and to make a major effort to reduce the inherent bias. That should make the present and future a much richer experience for all concerned, as ONE people, regardless of colour, in a genuine spirit of reconciliation.
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