From Spokesman to Spokesfool -- Kanye West

I caught this over at PerezHilton.com (yeah, I admit it -- it's one of my guilty diversions). Kanye's mother sadly died recently in part due to a truly tragic excess of vanity and a temporary lapse of the wisdom and judgment that the former professor was surely capable of. I'm a fan and I can only imagine how painful her passing must have been for her only son. Still, vanity can also kill a career and after this recent commentary -- and his recent diva eruptions, we might have to change Kanye's name to Coonye. Because for rizzle, this is some serious self-hatred. Of the delusional kind that too often sadly turns to self-destruction.

“I’m a pop enigma. I live and breathe every element in life. I rock a bespoke suit and I go to Harold’s for fried chicken. It’s all these things at once, because, as a tastemaker, I find the best of everything. There’s certain things that black people are the best at and certain things that white people are the best at. Whatever we as black people are the best at, I’m a go get that. Like, on Christmas I don’t want any food that tastes white. And when I go to purchase a house, I don’t want my credit to look black."

- Kanye West tells the new issue of Spin

Oh but there's more! From the actual Spin interview, here's a continuation:

Q: And what foods would fall into that category? A: White-people food? You know what it is. You never ate fried chicken and said, "This tastes white." It's America. People know the stereotypes. I play to the stereotypes. I believe in the stereotypes. And I submit to them. [Affects a black, Southern accent] "Man, black people sure can cook some chicken! And I'ma get some black chicken."

Q: I'm trying to gauge if you're being sincere or facetious. A: It is what it is. A lot of things that are funny have truth in them. So my music is a mix between some good Harold's Chicken and...

Q: A bespoke suit? A: A bespoke suit!

We all recall that Kanye West, just a couple of years ago, achieved pop hero status when he broke free from the canned corporate teleprompter during a televised Katrina fundraising special. Kanye gave his own testimony about the government's painfully inadequate response to one of America's worst humanitarian disasters ever -- and took a lot of heat for it, bravely brushing it off. He spoke the words that every black person in America was thinking (and a few other people too) when he cut through the saccharine crap and stated the obvious: "George Bush does not care about black people."

Today? Well Coonye's blog is an interesting look into what inspires him creatively in modern design and music. Yet, he carefully avoids any socio-political commentary of any kind. But let me leave it to Coonye's soon-to-be diminishing fan base (if he ain't careful) and their comments at P-Nasty's gossip journal to have the last word.

Kitten said:

"i USED to think he was really cool but lately when he talks he sounds way to up his own ass and like he thinks he's above everyone else. seriosuly Kayne who do you think you are?? you write songs and dance around for a living.. stop taking yourself so f'in seriously."

whatever said:

"he needs to take the advice of gabrielle union and the example of perez - try boosting your people, not dragging them down. i get the food thing, and obviously it's a stupid generalization, but the credit comment is so unhelpful"

And my personal favorite -- from HRH Adam:

"Wow, that just dethroned so many items to win the crown of "Dumbest thing I've ever read." This guy is no more talented as a rapper than Will Smith was in his Fresh Prince prime, except I don't really see the mega massive acting career coming after Kanye's "rap" career. This guy is a hack, dancing in a toy soldier suit on TV, his best rhyme scheme "Ferrari/Sorry/Lawry's.." I guess thats what makes him a "tastemaker," but who is he "making taste" for? I feel lame just reading the words "bespoke suit," and I've never seen a Harold's Fried Chicken restaurant in my life. I guess that is what he means when he's talking about food that doesn't "taste white." Isn't it certain types of schizophrenics that think they can smell or taste colours? Bespoke suits, Fried Chicken, and a white credit score. Kanye West, ladies and gentlemen, erasing stereotypes through music. P.s. I hope this tool has to apologize to the Rev. Al Sharpton for this."

It's like he feels insecure about his "blackness" and is trying to convince the world to overlook his education, intelligence, creativity and yes, middle class upbringing. Kanye West is an important artist who along with many other artists like Mos Def and Talib Kweli have taken hip hop beyond the booty vixen video. I hope that he can bust out the naps inside his own head and continue to make his momma (and a whole lot of other mommas he may never meet) proud. Because in the same interview, he actually manages to say something halfway sensible, leaving me a little hope for him:

Certain things are so good it doesn't have to be white or black.

Hillbilly Nation -- CNN/YouTube Republican Debate

Sorry -- the more extensive coverage we had planned didn't quite work out. But here's something to chew on, at least.

So CNN and the Republicans tried hard but glimpses of racism were still to be seen in the recent debate. The debate featured white men talking to white men in front of a white audience (I counted 3 black people in the live crowd, how bout you?) How white was it? Well, neither the Democratic nor the GOP versions of the debates were particularly diverse. Both featured a majority of white men. Only CNN and YouTube can tell us if that actually reflects the demographics of the thousands of videos submitted.

Of 34 total questions aired, 24 were from white men (including 2 cartoon versions) in the GOP debate. That's 71%. For the Dem debate, counting was a little more challenging since one video aired combined video submissions from several people. Still I'd estimate 22 of 38 questions aired were from white men (I did not count the snowman as white because snow does not have an ethnicity) or 58%.

Further, there were 8 questions shown that featured African-Americans during the Democratic debate and a measly 2 in the GOP debate. Hmm.

Also, strikingly -- astonishingly, no questions whatsoever during the GOP debate on:

Healthcare in America
Katrina
Climate Change or Environment
Darfur
Iraq Troop Withdrawal
Afghanistan and Pakistan -- Resurgence of the Taliban
Racial Profiling
Voting Machines and Voting Rights
The Failure to Capture Osama bin Laden

I just don't understand. Particularly the first 5 or 6. These are critical issues. Shame on CNN. Of the 5000 questions submitted, are you really saying that no one asked the Republican candidates about these issues? Or are some of these, like healthcare, Darfur and climate change, questions the chickenshit candidates refused to answer as a condition of participating since most Americans would be disgusted by their answers. Both debates however featuring white guys holding their guns, however. Which is interesting. Also, it seemed to me as if the Dem questions came from more folks living in urban or suburban environment as opposed to rural or ex-urban America.

Most Racist:

Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter and their giant border fences. Because the Berlin Wall worked sooo well, let's build one here! Come on now, y'all.

Mitt Romney and his disingenuous Bush-like sneering and smirking about prouding wanting to deny high-performing long term resident illegal immigrants who want to become U.S. citizens help to go to college. Or referencing Bill Cosby while discussing black-on-black crime. Or shrugging while saying he just doesn't question the citizenship of people working at his home even if they look different from him or have an accent. Jerk. Could Romney have been more condescending in answering the black on black crime question in talking about black fathers? No, I don't think so.

Least Racist:



In response to this excellent and well-phrased question from a brother, Mike Huckabee who touted the high percentage of African-Americans who voted for him in Arkansas (48%!) and said why -- it had to do with appointments and employment, with special programs designed to help African-Americans with healthcare issues impacting us disproportionately and being in the community long before the Oct prior to an election. Then he shocked me and broke it down for the ignorant hillbillies of his party, saying with what sounded like earnest passion, concern and frustration:

"Our party had better reach out, not just to African-Americans, but to Hispanics and and to all people in this country. I don't want to be a part of a Republican party that is a tiny, minute and ever decreasing party but one that touches every American, top to bottom, regardless of race."

Now you might think that a stirring, visionary message like that would be received by resounding applause and a standing ovation. Well, you could hear the crickets chirping out behind those hillbillies' outhouses and the head/ass-scratching of confusion...Sad, really.

Runner-up for Least Racist:

Fred Thompson in response to the question on the confederate flag. I was actually heartened that at least one person really got it from the African-American point of view. Fred, you get a partially raised black gloved Fist of Justice from me at least on that question. Just partially, though.

When Subprime Gets A Cold, Black America Gets the Flu

Lots of folks including the New York Times Opinion page are clucking their tongues over the subprime mortgage mess.
People have previously said alarming things like:

``U.S. subprime losses have detonated a global financial markets disaster,'' said Vickie Hsieh, who helps oversees $1.4 billion at President Investment Trust Corp. in Taipei. (Bloomberg Aug 15, 2007)

"In the fixed income markets we have Armageddon." -- Jim Cramer of Mad Money (Aug 4, 2007)

Think everything's just fine since the Fed stepped in? Think again:

Nomura Holdings, the largest Japanese brokerage, said Monday that it would shut down its mortgage-backed securities business in the United States, the latest casualty of the subprime mortgage crisis that is rippling across the globe.
[...]
"This is extremely regrettable," the company's chief executive, Nobuyuki Koga, said at a press briefing in Tokyo. "The pace of the collapse in the U.S. residential mortgage-backed securities market was quicker than we expected." (International Herald Tribune, Oct. 15, 2007)

Because the excesses in the U.S. lending industry have kinda sorta threatened the world economy just a tad, (rich) people are taking a closer look at how we came to this dark place. And whose fault it might be. Props to Politics Plus who also blogged this.

From "Subprime in Black and White":

Evidence is mounting that during the housing boom, black and Hispanic borrowers were far more likely to be steered into high-cost subprime loans than other borrowers, even after controlling for factors such as income, loan size and property location.

The Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University released a study this week highlighting a disturbing pattern of racial disparities. Using data gathered by the federal government, the study showed that the 10 New York City neighborhoods with the highest rates of subprime lending in 2005 had black and Hispanic majorities, while the 10 areas with the lowest rates were mainly non-Hispanic white. The higher incidence of subprime lending to borrowers of color held up even when the median income levels of the neighborhoods were comparable.

And as The Times’s Manny Fernandez reported this week, the Furman findings are consistent with a separate analysis of mortgage data by this paper, which found that high-income blacks and Hispanics in New York City were two to three times more likely than comparable non-Hispanic white borrowers to have subprime loans.

Other studies have shown similar racial disparities in Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and other cities.

The bad news doesn’t end there. Neighborhoods where subprime borrowers are concentrated are the same neighborhoods that are now experiencing high rates of default and foreclosure. That’s because many subprime loans were not designed to be affordable over the long term, but rather to be refinanced before their initial teaser rates rose. That often hasn’t been possible as home values have dropped and credit standards have tightened, leaving borrowers stuck in loans that have become unmanageable.

That doesn't sound good. But there's more.

The mortgage lending industry says it’s impossible to say that such patterns are the result of discrimination because the federal data do not include so-called risk characteristics like borrowers’ credit scores, other debts or how much of a down payment they were able to make.

But the burden of proof has to be on the lenders to show that no discrimination has occurred. They have data on the risk characteristics of their borrowers. When the Federal Reserve began in 2004 to require lenders to provide specific data on subprime loans, the industry fought successfully to keep the risk profile of borrowers, including credit scores, under wraps. Now, with indications of discrimination rife, Congress must demand that data be fully disclosed.

If you'd like a translation for your barbershop conversation later, I offer you this:

Basically, some big lenders and brokers figured out a new, creative way to rip off African-Americans and Latinos of all socioeconomic levels, taking advantage in part of government encouragement to close the gap between minority and white home owne