Over the past year, I’ve grown to like Chance the Rapper more and more. He’s not rapping about just lifestyle stuff, or money or women or whatever. He’s quite political in his music and in real life. He notably supported Hillary Clinton, even filming a PSA for her campaign, and he led an Election Day parade to get out the vote in his home city of Chicago. He’s also been outspoken about Chicago’s problems, whether it’s the ineffectual policies of Rahm Emanuel or the extrajudicial killings of unarmed people of color by the Chicago police. Chance covers the new issue of GQ, and I found his interview really interesting. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
He’s sort of Kanye West’s protégé: “I don’t think I ever wanted to be like Kanye in personality… I think I definitely want to, have always wanted to, have his boldness or assurance in myself. But I’ve definitely seen Kanye do things where I was like, ‘I’d never do that’ I’ve always been able to defend Kanye… Like when he went onstage with Taylor, I was like…well…Beyoncé kind of deserved that. I’m rationalizing everything that he does, but I can’t say that in the same position I would do the same things… I always wanted to be more a person that people enjoy. Somebody that will make you laugh. I’m talking about just my personality, not necessarily how my music sounds. Because I believe I’m a disrupter like Kanye in a lot of ways.”
“Rapper” is a stigmatized label: He was asked “’What’d you going to be be when you grow up?’…And I remember they asked me, and I said a rapper. And my dad laughed it off, like, ‘No he doesn’t…’ You know? And I remember that sh-t used to bother the f–k out of me because I thought Kanye West was the smartest man in the world. The best poet in the world. The freshest-dressed in the world. That’s what a rapper was to me, and I wanted everybody to feel that way about the word ‘rapper.’ And ‘rapper,’ to me, is pretty much synonymous with the world ‘black.’ It’s a stigma.”
His father and his feelings on Trump: “My dad’s the man. And I can’t say that enough. He has always stuck up for people. And he’s also always been a good dude. That’s who I want to be. I’m okay if the story seems boring to people because I’m a good guy. I’m cool with that. I’d be cool with people remembering me as a good, boring dude. As long as people say good… the good guy, in what I’ve seen happen so far, the good usually wins. That’s why I’m not afraid of a Trump presidency…”
On white people in Middle America: “You gotta just understand, like, sh-t has been f–ked-up, right? Like, ‘Make America Great Again,’ that’s not a real thing because sh-t ain’t really switched up for them. It’s not really going that bad for you. If you feel like you’re the under-represented, under-appreciated side of Middle America that is white––quote me––you need to, uh, toughen up, n-gga! Somebody gotta punch you in the chest, because sh-t is sweet for you. You know what I’m saying? I would say to everybody, you know, the world is coming together. Like––there’s every day people are becoming more a more, I’m not using this world in terms of emotion, but sensitive to real issues… and aware…. I would say the main reason not to be afraid is that I’m making music for your kids now. I’m coming so clean-cut with the message of hope and understanding, and the Word, that it’s like: What could you be fearful of?”
Chance sort of hit on something I felt in the wake of the election too, as media outlets tried to profile the typical “Trump voter.” We were supposed to believe that the Trump voter was some marginalized white guy whose job went overseas, someone living hand-to-mouth in coal country, someone who believed he would get a better deal under a President Trump than a President Hillary Clinton. And while I’m sure those voters existed and they totally voted for Trump, there were quite a few (millions, in fact) Trump voters who live comfortable middle class lives in the suburbs and gated communities who just want to feel like they’re oppressed and marginalized. And to that I say the same thing as Chance: Toughen up. Sh-t is sweet for you.
Photos courtesy of Eric Ray Davidson exclusively for GQ.
Yep. Like I said in that story about Bo Bice y’all couldn’t handle the micoragressions we deal with daily. Over every little thing. Seems like the special snowflakes are those in middle America. And I’m not here for it at all
I had a huge fall out with a colleague a few months back when we fell into a discussion about women’s rights where he dropped the gem “I just don’t think there’s as much gender discrimination going on in real life as you say there is.” He had never experience being discriminated against as a woman and therefore in his mind, discrimination had to be something made up by angry feminists. I feel like I see this notion when white people discuss racism and microagressions as well. Like, I have never experienced racially motivated microagressions, therefore it’s made up by angry poc that want me to feel guilty for something I didn’t do. It’s frustrating to say the least.
Beyond frustrating. And I’m a black woman myself. Frustrated is on a good day
WORD.
No lies being told here. As a white woman, one of the biggest lessons of 2016 was that white fragility is SO real.
And, I know, my sisters of color have known this forever and I’m just now getting with the program.
Same for me Shambles. It was a real eye opener.
Same here too. I was aware, but this past year has gone above and beyond in demonstrating it.
Me too! The Election and all that came with it was what did it for me. At first I remember being like “oh I’m not like that” and there were some uncomfortable months of being like, “oh shit… I am like that” and now I am this potentially annoying person who is much more aware of all the ridiculousness going on in the world. I am not perfect but happy to be challenged and actually working on it.
Same here. I really realized this year what white privilege was. I’m a southern white woman. And because I had a good mom and because of my faith, overt racism isn’t in my home or my life. It’s not allowed in–I’ll have an awkward “sorry, but we don’t say that here or around me” talk with acquaintances and family in a hot minute. That said, because MY issue isn’t racism, I wrongly assumed it was just about gone (with small, close-minded exceptions). This past year has opened my eyes. And while I don’t care for his generalizations in that statement exactly, PLENTY of white kids in my school system (I’m a teacher) have nothing materially and struggle to find food at home, I get it. I’m loving this guy the more I listen to him and his music. AND as a person of faith, he’s a “woke” Christian artist, which is a good representation of a lot of us. Open minded Christians just don’t sell as many headlines at the crazy ones, so you don’t hear as much about us. Thanks, Chance, for quoting “the Word”: “What could you be fearful of?” That may be my new motto to teach my kids, black, white, or brown.
Well, I’m in Chicago so I love Chance.
x
I like him.
Honestly, I’m so friggin’ tired of hearing about white, middle class Americans’ “economic anxiety”. They were too lazy and ignorant to do five minutes of research to dispute the veritable mountain of lies from Trump and GOP. That wasn’t because of “economic anxiety”, that was flat out misogyny and racism at work. Trump said the terrible things they had in their hearts and it emboldened them to finally get to speak their hate via voting for that monster.
I have zero empathy for them. I refuse to unite with deliberate ignorance and hatred. White middle class who voted for Trump should be treated like the bullies and thugs they are.
I don’t understand it either as didn’t the outgoing President and Vice President make things easier for them with policies aimed specifically at them. It was mentioned in the speech yesterday by Obama.
This. I’m at the point where even hearing the term “white middle class” is like nails on a chalk board to me.
Kevin Williamson had a fascinating piece about this. A long excerpt that summarizes the unapologetic and deliciously controversial tone of the piece (really worth reading!):
“It is immoral because it perpetuates a lie: that the white working class that finds itself attracted to Trump has been victimized by outside forces. It hasn’t. The white middle class may like the idea of Trump as a giant pulsing humanoid middle finger held up in the face of the Cathedral, they may sing hymns to Trump the destroyer and whisper darkly about “globalists” and — odious, stupid term — “the Establishment,” but nobody did this to them. They failed themselves.
If you spend time in hardscrabble, white upstate New York, or eastern Kentucky, or my own native West Texas, and you take an honest look at the welfare dependency, the drug and alcohol addiction, the family anarchy — which is to say, the whelping of human children with all the respect and wisdom of a stray dog — you will come to an awful realization. It wasn’t Beijing. It wasn’t even Washington, as bad as Washington can be. It wasn’t immigrants from Mexico, excessive and problematic as our current immigration levels are. It wasn’t any of that. Nothing happened to them. There wasn’t some awful disaster. There wasn’t a war or a famine or a plague or a foreign occupation. Even the economic changes of the past few decades do very little to explain the dysfunction and negligence — and the incomprehensible malice — of poor white America. So the gypsum business in Garbutt ain’t what it used to be. There is more to life in the 21st century than wallboard and cheap sentimentality about how the Man closed the factories down.
The truth about these dysfunctional, downscale communities is that they deserve to die. Economically, they are negative assets. Morally, they are indefensible. Forget all your cheap theatrical Bruce Springsteen crap. Forget your sanctimony about struggling Rust Belt factory towns and your conspiracy theories about the wily Orientals stealing our jobs. Forget your goddamned gypsum, and, if he has a problem with that, forget Ed Burke, too. The white American underclass is in thrall to a vicious, selfish culture whose main products are misery and used heroin needles. Donald Trump’s speeches make them feel good. So does OxyContin. What they need isn’t analgesics, literal or political. They need real opportunity, which means that they need real change, which means that they need a U-Haul”
I know this will infuriate people, but I enjoy the fact that he went there. Some people really need to hear that shit and stop with the romanticizing and infantilizing of the precious white working class.
@ Kitten Where was this published? I think I will try to carve out some time to read the whole thing.
It’s subscription-only so I can’t link to it, unfortunately.
But I found this piece which includes the excerpt and is also quite good: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/432796/
This is great. Thanks. I mean, what is all of the rest of the country supposed to do, suffer and die in an uneducated, underemployed hole full of bigotry and hate? Is that what is going to save their children?
Here’s a link to the whole Kevin Williamson article: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/432876/donald-trump-white-working-class-dysfunction-real-opportunity-needed-not-trump
Yes! I loved that article and was just about to post the link. You beat me to it!
The days when a white man with barely a high-school education could walk into a secure, well-paid manufacturing job FOR LIFE are over and have been for some time. The writing has been on the wall for decades, but the refusal of some people to move or re-train (like the rest of us, who have to go where the jobs are) does not make them a special category of victim, excusing their ignorance and prejudice.
The other great article – if only for the comments! – was the NYT piece on “pink collar jobs” and the obstinacy of some blue-collar workers to take jobs they thought were “beneath them” – aka the kind of service jobs usually done by women. The comments were hilarious and brutal!
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/04/upshot/why-men-dont-want-the-jobs-done-mostly-by-women.html
Yes, globalisation is tough in a lot of ways, but that doesn’t mean that stubborn, uneducated, bigoted white men should be mythologised and treated like heroes. The voters with the lowest level of income – the real strugglers – voted for Hillary, whereas the average Trump voter’s income was about $70k.
I don’t mind economic anxiety combined with low information being an explanation for a section of the populist authoritarian vote (in the US for Trump and the UK for Brexit). Fair enough.
I just get pished off when it’s mythologised as “the working class” in its entirety – cos what? The working class is white and male? No POC in there? Or mythologised as the working class were the only ones voting that way, when, as you say, there were plenty of people with no economic anxiety whatsoever who swelled the ranks to a larger degree.
But the term isn’t “working class” it’s “WHITE working class” specifically because we know the black working class does not equal the white working class in terms of sheer numbers AND attitude.
Additionally, the black working class aren’t putting themselves out there as a marginalized group. In fact, quite the opposite: middle and working class blacks are embracing their relatively good economic success. It’s only the white folks that are presenting themselves as a victims of liberal policy, outsourcing of jobs, and whatever else they can throw at a wall.
Again, it’s important to remember that the white working class were more than happy to pay into Democratic social programs like Medicaid and SS during the late 1960s, ’70s, ’80s and on. It was only when black people began to riot and demand the same benefits that white working class people began to quietly break away from the Democratic party.
Why? Because these white folks didn’t agree with the idea of the Dem party offering the same benefits (or “entitlements”-I hate that term) to black folks.
One exception was the seemingly impossible union of the original Rainbow Coalition: http://www.salon.com/2017/01/10/1969-vs-2017-when-black-panthers-aligned-with-confederate-flag-wielding-working-class-whites_partner/
Count on a Brit to bring some nuance! I have written about Trump supporters in my life at length and pointed out that none of them were down on their luck, unemployed, or otherwise poor. So, I’m like 90% in agreement, however, I’m now feeling like we might be swinging too much the other way? I’m sure there ARE hard-working unemployed white working class people who are unemployed and poor because big business screwed them over and not because they are drug addicts. Therefore, saying “it’s your own fault” seems harsh to me: I think we can safely assume that plenty of people are unemployed not for the lack of trying – I know I am.
@Timbuktu-Agree with you completely, my friend.
I have absolutely NO doubt that there are some good, hard-working folks who have suffered due to the death of coal and factory jobs. Even here in Massachusetts, you see it with the economic depression in old mill towns that no longer produce textiles. I didn’t mean to insinuate otherwise.
I’m simply saying that the idea that every single white working class person is somehow only a victim of mere economics based on the death of factory jobs and not the various other causes that we know contribute to poverty, is simply not true. It’s a complex problem that as you said, requires a nuanced approach. But to me, you don’t encourage critical thinking by painting an entire segment of the population with such a broad brush. I also question how helpful it is to infantilize these folks. I mean, is that really addressing the heart of the issue in a meaningful way? How does it benefit or empower them to present them as martyrs?
I think there’s also a very racist connotation attached to white “working” class, as though other races don’t work. It feeds into this self-indulgent, self-mythologizing idea that our society is built on the backs/tax dollars of white people, when the reality is far more nuanced and often opposite.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the effects of deindustrialisation form a big problem and there are people who have been left behind. Successive governments have failed to create opportunity in certain regions. But that doesn’t make it ok to vote for a racist buffoon. And it never will. And the working class is gender and race diverse. It drives me up the wall because it’s not rocket science to see that, is it?
Question: I’ve seen a few docs on the heroin/opiate epidemic you guys have in these areas, but none have really addressed how it began. Is it deindustralisation despair? Or bad prescribing of pain meds leading to illegal use? Or something else?
The reason we need to focus on white working class voters is that they are historically part of the Democratic base. If they had turned out for Hillary like they turned out for Obama, we’d have a different president elect.
These voters aren’t any more or any less racist or misogynistic than they were four years ago. So what made them say “damn it all to hell” and vote for Trump?
We know why the traditional Republican base voted for Trump, but we need to understand is why so many working class Democrats crossed the aisle.
@Sixer As for opiate addiction, I think the question we need to be asking is what kind of pain is really being treated? For more than a fair few it’s likely the pain of mental illness.
@Kitten
That’s the trouble with smart people: they make it so hard to object by being freaking reasonable and respectful. Those East Coast elites, I am telling ya! 🙂
That is perhaps the most infuriating trend of American politics: the over-simplification of such complex issues! I’m sure I’m guilty of it, too, objectively speaking, but compared to 80% of what’s written on FB, I am a paragon of complexity and depth.
@Megan- I just don’t believe the idea that Obama voters defected; they simply stayed home.
If you accept that (which you might not lol) then we need to explore the reason for people not coming out to vote. We have to address the myriad of issues that led to people not finding HRC to be an inspiring candidate from fake news to her corporate ties to just plain, good ol’ fashioned sexism. But this idea that so many Obama-supporters flipped to Trump is something that I have yet to see proven. Every single Trump-supporter I have ever interacted with hates Obama with a passion and most voted for Trump precisely BECAUSE he is the anti-Obama in so many (awful) ways.
@Sixer-As someone who dated an OxyContin addict for many years I can tell you exactly how the heroin epidemic has become a white, middle-to-upper-class problem here in Massachusetts.
Starts with prescription pain meds prescribed for a broken collar bone in football practice or removed wisdom teeth and quickly graduates to full-blown addiction.
15 years ago, an 80 milligram OC pill cost $80 (could be more now) and with a strong habit requiring up to 320 mg a day just to avoid getting sick, you can imagine how costly that can be. My ex blew through a $18K inheritance on OCs. Thankfully, he got into treatment before he graduated to heroin. But that’s how it happens: addicts run out of money and turn to heroin for a similar high at 1/4 the cost.
@Timbuktu-Absolutely. I also meant to say thank you for your additional comment. I get carried away sometimes to the point of being insensitive. My intention wasn’t to say that there aren’t white people suffering in extreme poverty–there absolutely are. Many of these people are born into poverty and victims of a system that makes it extraordinarily difficult to escape. I don’t take that for granted and I have the utmost sympathy for anyone who has to live in destitution in such a wealthy country as ours.
I only meant to say that I find it tiresome that often folks who are simply racist or architects of their own misery enjoy the “benefit” (for lack of a better word) of being lumped in with people who are genuinely suffering, simply due to race and geographical location. Those people shouldn’t be allowed to drive the narrative of this past election.
@ Sixer – more often it’s prescribed for a legitimate injury,people get hooked and then source them in illegal ways once their perception is up. There is also a big trend in former opiate users switching to smoking or snorting heroin because it’s cheaper than pills.
Thanks, guys. Very helpful. This is not so much how heroin users get started here. I think we prescribe very strong opioids for non-hospitalised patients much less.
But we do see an amount of heroin use correlated with deprivation and the complex mental ill health issues associated with poverty.
How is this as a reflection of the intersection of economic position and xenophobia/racism in the authoritarian populist vote?
http://theconversation.com/new-index-of-economic-marginalisation-helps-explain-trump-brexit-and-alt-right-71172
I like this because it’s the result of academic research, not commentariat opinion. (I recommend signing up for the Conversation email digest, btw. It puts out some great stuff.)
@Kitten PA, MI and WI is where the critical flipping took place. It wasn’t massive, but when combined with low voter turnout in those states, it was deadly.
As for low voter turnout, Hillary took for granted the Democratic base would turnout for her, which was such a monumental mistake from someone with so much political experience it defies logic.
@ sixer, re oxy/heroin: Opiates have been around for ages. The big increase in opiate addiction in the US is due to two things …
1) Increased recognition of pain. There was a movement in the US saying that pain is the “fifth vital symptom” and should be treated as a priority. The agencies that regulate hospitals started to insist on pain treatment plans for accreditation. Which isn’t a bad idea, pain is probably under treated in the U.K., but it got out of hand.
2) Purdue patented and marketed a slow release opiate that was supposed to last 12 hours and thus be less addictive (instead of a high and then withdrawal, it was supposed to just suppress pain steadily). But even in their trials they had a lot of patients with withdrawal and breakthrough pain at 8 or 10 hours. They ignored that and told the docs to only prescribe 2 pills a day. That made it just as addictive as previous opiates (every time you go through withdrawal and then back on the drug it makes the addiction stronger). To make things 100 times worse Purdue drug reps told the docs to stop breakthrough pain by prescribing stronger pills … still just twice a day.
So, instead of a being a less-addictive opiate OxyContin ended up being just as addictive as previous formulations AND prescribed at stronger dosages. Then the government finally cracked down on the sale of oxy … but without providing much in the way of drug addiction rehab. So many users swapped to heroin.
Basically the whole thing was a recipe for disaster.
It’s the polite way of saying people were afraid of the changing power dynamics. America was becoming a world where being white and/or male didn’t automatically mean success – it never was, but that was the story we were all sold – and that made them angry. This is what happens when you’ve never had to walk the walk of actual oppression. The simple act of “not having everything” becomes oppression.
@Veronica, this is so true. Of course, Trump’s supporters will never admit this because then they’d have to admit to the racism, homophobia and sexism that lie underneath the whole narrative.
yeah. a tiny taste of what equality might look like and it’s all “hey. wait. you mean i no longer get to be first at the trough? i might not even get to be third??? nope. devolution, plsthnx”.
so sad, on so many levels.
+10000
The only down side to Chance the Rapper is now I can’t see him without hearing him sing the Kit Kat theme in my head.
But seriously, for a race that has pretty much controlled EVERYTHING in this country since its inception, white people (and white men are the worst of us) are the biggest bunch of thin skinned, whiny drama queens and see attacks on their beliefs EVERYWHERE, and that is why it is so sickening to hear other white people say that minorities of every stripe need to “just get over it” It being pesky things like genocide, slavery etc. But say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas and suddenly it is a war on Christmas and Christianity and oh my god, how long before white, god fearing straight people are dragged from their homes and forced to live under Sharia Law???
But yeah
“white people (and white men are the worst of us) are the biggest bunch of thin skinned, whiny drama queens and see attacks on their beliefs EVERYWHERE, and that is why it is so sickening to hear other white people say that minorities of every stripe need to “just get over it”
This x1000!!! *praise hands emoji*
I love that Kit Kat commercial! It’s so cute and never fails to make me smile 😊😊
Standing ovation for this comment.
Exactly!
It was a similar profile for Brexit, as while there were the poor and disadvantaged working classes there was also a large portion of white middle Englanders who voted to leave as they feel marginalised as immigrants r taking their jobs and eroding what they think it means to be English/British. Never underestimate the need of the white man to feel special.
In history the Germans felt hard done by by the Jewish “elites” and business people. That ended very badly … no one ought to point their fingers at “others” while ignoring their own resistance to change and ingenuity.
I’m very scared for people who depend on Obamacare and Medicare/Medicade & SS…unless, they voted against Clinton or not at all (in which case, they can go fuck themselves). No sympathy for White Middle America.
ACA and SS are a real, immediate threat to people. It’s, literally, life and death.
I’m white,disabled and receive ssi and Medicaid. I am very nervous. I voted for Clinton and so did my black boyfriend. I was at the neurologist yesterday and he said our insurance can’t be taken away. I hope it’s true, but with all read in the news, I’m definitely nervous
Yes, I have had this fear growing and growing in my mind since Election Day. I brought all four of my children age four and under, by myself, to vote for HC because my daughter has intractable epilepsy among other things and we JUST got on the Medicaid waiver after being on the waitlist for 4 years which has been a godsend since her basic medical costs are just insane. My entire family though voted for DT, and it breaks my heart that they didn’t think about my living, breathing, daughter for one minute but based their vote on one or two things. Either abortion or just their hate for HC. I can only pray he doesn’t do too much damage and what he does do isnt permanent but I have very little hope right now.
@Mel M my epilepsy can’t be controlled. I have seizures everyday. I’m 38 and for the past 23 years have tried every medicine possible. Currently on 5 prescriptions coming to over $4,000 a month! I was absolutely shocked when I found out both of my parents voted for Trump. I’m still arguing with them and was telling my mom how careless and thoughtless she was to vote for him while she was driving me home from the doctor yesterday. I’m so scared of what might happen while he’s president. Rich men don’t realize what regular people need
@embee-Ugh, I’m so sorry because I know exactly how you feel. My daughters isn’t controlled either even on 4 meds and all of the others she’s tried plus a special diet. She has tonic-clonics, atonics, absence, and partial seizures right now. You’re right and he is the number one rich white man that has no idea what typical everyday Americans need. I don’t think anyone that doesn’t know someone with epilepsy knows how little is still known about it and how hard it can be to control. When my daughter was first diagnosed I didn’t know anything about it and just thought she could take some medicine and that would be it. Little did I know.
Mel M – I hope if she’s young they’ll come to an end like manys do around puberty.. I have grand mal and petit mal seizures everyday with no auras. I had brain surgery, but it couldn’t be fixed. Side effects of all the medicine we take is awful. Thankfully I was never teased at school, kids were interested. My dream is to be able to drive and work. When I hear people like Trump and his followers comment about how people don’t want to work, just take money it enrages me.
@Embee
That’s exactly how I feel too. I just don’t understand: when people talk about those who don’t work, but want healthcare, the FIRST place my mind goes is people like you. My first instinct is to think: “my God, there are people out there who were given NO CHOICE to work! I’m sure they’d LOVE to! And if we don’t help them, then who will? We will all be sick, feeble, and unable to work one day, and as long as I am capable of work, I am fine helping those who can’t”.
How can so many “Christians” look at the same situation and think only about some mythical illegals, who sit on their butts, but have iPhones and expensive shoes? Do they lack compassion entirely? Have they honestly never met someone who genuinely needed help? Surely, everyone has? So, the choice to ignore those cases and to focus on imaginary fraud (not to say that there is no fraud, but let’s face it – general public is hardly well appraised of it) is so heartless, IMO.
I love this man so damn much! And I see no lies in what he’s saying. Some of these ppl really want to feel oppressed. Why, I don’t know. It’s not a good feeling. POC, the LGBT community…we’ve been dealing with microagressions so long it’s almost comical to see the white fragility in some ppl. Seriously toughen up!
+1,000,000
Agreed. There was some good commentary on The Atlantic about this. The writer did say that the biggest issue was the white working class/blue collar voters were pissed because for too long we’ve put them on a pedestal and told them how important they were, how vital they were, etc; the truth is there were never any more important than anybody else and many of the jobs have been automated. They were lied to. They were built up and praised in order to get them to do hard manual break backing labor on the cheap. We do the same thing with teachers. We glorify them, tell them how important they are, and yet pay them shit. It’s a well known fact that if you can convince someone that their work is important they were demand less and do it for less: teaching, blue collar work, up to recently nursing (even though they are still low compared to Dr.s — when it is the nurses to who do most of the heavy lifting), people who work at non profits, etc.
He’s completely right. Having a black president was a cry for help for them. They see the world change and minorities finally getting their place in the world.but cannot accept that. White people who voted for Trump are so afraid of losing “their place”
Amen to that, Steph!
People need to watch TV shows like Drugs.Inc on the National Geographic Channel. The media makes you think it’s only black people doing drugs, but when you watch these shows you see that a lot of whites are doing them as well. Heroin has made a comeback in white neighborhoods.
I live in a predominantly white Midwest area and the drug problem here is huge. I actually learned about my cousin (who I haven’t seen in years) overdosing on heroin with his baby daughter in the backseat on fb because someone posted the local news story. The police got to him in time but still! My uncle still hasn’t mentioned it to my dad and I don’t think he ever will. There have been lots of overdosing and drug busts in this area lately though and the majority are white.
MORE CHANCE!!
Ugh I love him!! As Nicole said microaggressions would send y’all to an early grave lol. It’s just really frustrating to see people who have it easy, or deal with less of a stigma throughout their life, blow their chances and then try to blame POC and take away OUR chances because they’re mad. When I was little my dad said I would have to work 3 times as hard as the average person because I’m black AND a woman. When I told him that wasn’t fair he said of course not, but that’s the life we’re in right now. I feel many of “white middle America” is starting to feel that reality of being left behind and having to fend for yourself that POC face on the daily, and they’re freaking out. Digging in their heels and trying to change a rapidly developing world back into some 50s MAGA ideal is not the way to go though.
Agree completely.
Right, especially since having to “fend for themselves” would mean what it has for marginalized and oppressed people for centuries: work hard, educate yourself, figure out what you have to do to get ahead, persist against the odds, no whining. Emphasis on educate yourself.
I like most of excerpts from interview a lot.
“If you feel like you’re the under-represented, under-appreciated side of Middle America that is white––quote me––you need to, uh, toughen up, n-gga!”
I have been saying this since the election on this very board and in real life. I am long past sick and tired of hearing and reading about the poor white man and woman’s (please don’t forget about the angry white women who voted for Trash Dump) plight. As if they are the ONLY people who have been suffering. As if First Nation people have it going so swell on their reservations and other non-white people who live in poverty have it so much better. Hell, even black and other non-white people in the middle class have it less easy than white people as they still face racism in their communities. All you have to do is watch the news, other than Fox, to see this.
What is equally as bad is the so-called “woke” white people and some people of color having the audacity to say “keep fighting” or ” do something” or say something dismissive when anyone tries to voice their opinion against the Trump supporter. As if calling white Trump supporters for their selfishness and idiocy is not doing anything. I refuse to coddle people who benefit from white supremacy. You cannot get rid of white supremacy if no one talks about it.
Many POC throughout the history of this country have been fighting for equality and just basic human decency. Black women specifically have consistently turn out in high numbers for every election and rarely get anything in return. Why don’t we get think pieces and town halls, etc?
I agree with him. The toughest bubble to puncture is the so-called white middle-America-oppressed-bubble … these lovers of guns who consider themselves the only true patriots and bandy about the word “elite” as if it were a germ. Times have changed you can’t go back. But you can Make Russia Great Again … thanks for that!!!!!
I agree with everything y’all are saying. But I would like to point out, not all of the white people that voted for Trump did so because they want to feel like they are somehow oppressed. There are a lot of wealthy white people that vote republican every damn time because they want policies that protect their wealth and don’t give a f $*k about anybody else and shrug at social issues. Which infuriates me. They don’t care about anybody else’s rights or sufferings, as long as they save some $$$$ when the tax man comes calling.
Yes this is very true and Kaiser pointed alluded to it a bit in her write-up. But I think you expound upon it even better by pointing to the fact that many were simply self-interested whites who wanted to protect their wealth.
Yes. I was talking to a lady last night who comes from a wealthy family. She said nobody would have problems if they’d all “get off their lazy asses and get a job. ” Said she was sick of her taxes going to these people and how proud she was of voting for Trump.
White fragility is the most dangerous thing in this country right next to toxic masculinity. Hes right, y’all got it good. White fragility is black women being killed on the daily, white fragility is black women bleaching their skin, white fragility is black men being shot in the street by white cops, Y’all. Cant. Handle. It. When black folks get something you feel like something has been taken from you. White fragility is the dismantling of other cultures out of fear and taking them for their own.
This isnt new, either by the way. People of color have been battling white fragility since the dawn of time. So yeah, someone needs to “punch them in the chest.” So to speak.
Can I just say that he looks so happy all the time. Every time I see Chance his joy at life comes through the photo and he puts a smile on my face
Fell in love with him after hearing this 2 years ago …
http://time.com/3071036/listen-to-chance-the-rappers-gorgeous-cover-of-the-arthur-theme-song/
Omg this song started my obsession with him too! Isn’t he just great I feel like I can’t praise him enough 😊😊
I’m sick of the “let’s understand why white middle America voted for trump so we can win them over” crowd. These people simply want regression instead of progression. They want to go backwards, not forwards because progress scares them. Sorry, morons, but time doesn’t work that way. You cannot go back, and you’ll ruin our country trying. You cannot stop progress.
These mythic white middle class voters are not more important than everyone else and I’m not gonna bend over backwards trying to please them. They’re idiots who think America is dying (which it isn’t) but chose a Dr. (President) with no medical license or experience, who is getting his medics knowledge from Medicine for Dummies. And they think it’s a brilliant move and he’s gonna cure everything.
“and they totally voted for Trump, there were quite a few (millions, in fact) Trump voters who live comfortable middle class lives in the suburbs and gated communities who just want to feel like they’re oppressed and marginalized.”
Yes, yes, yes – to take but just one example, I live a comfortable ‘middle-class’ life in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country, and the above quote exactly describes my next door neighbor.
I get what he’s saying and agree to a large degree, but lots of white people do have it very bad as well. My family is from Appalachia and believe me when I say things are not good there and nobody cares.
Thank you, Anon, I was about to write something along those lines. I feel a little bothered by this cavalier attitude to ALL the white people all of the sudden, like none of them are genuinely poor and struggling. I think every single person on this site is smart enough to bring attention to the struggles of POC while also acknowledging the struggles of white people. We don’t need to dismiss one to properly focus on the other, we aren’t Trump supporters.
Just imagine if a white singer told the black community that a lot of their problems are their own fault! He’d be told to shut up and take all the seats – I practically quote. Yes, I understand the difference, I remember history, BUT slavery isn’t the only way to disenfranchise people and to keep them down. So, is it perhaps possible that a black rapper may not be aware of certain real struggles that some white people face? And that just because those white people don’t get pulled over for driving while black, it doesn’t really console them much in their day-to-day struggles?
This thread and this site is sinking to a new level.
+1 it’s getting hostile in here
I disagree. I think in the sea of viciousness out there, this site is more than reasonable, most of the time. But I also feel like we’re trying to out-PC each other a bit too much at times? To the point where it is extremely uncomfortable to ask certain questions or to question certain ideas that have been accepted at the ultimate truth on here. I think that any time a consensus is formed, it’s unfortunate, because it tends to stop the free flow and exchange of ideas. That’s exactly how prejudices propagate and rifts in society begin – when something is given the status of an absolute and any questioning is met with hostility.
As long as the discussion is respectful and people are visibly making an effort to stay logical (which, I would argue, is true here 99% of the time, with the exception of a few obvious trolls), nothing should be off limits. Saying things like “I’m done talking to you” or “if you don’t get it already, you never will” is not helpful to your cause above all. Yes, some things are said here again and again, but there has been more than 1 occasion where I had a question or an objection, but held it back because I was not in the mood to be jumped on. Is that really what we want? A self-congratulating discussion where everyone vehemently agrees and those who do not are immediately declared hopeless? Doesn’t it sound like another group of people, that we almost unanimously despise?
I lived out in park city Utah for awhile and some of my friends lived in a little town 10 min away. This was a rinky dink ‘white’ town, with high meth rates, trailer homes, broken down buildings, a dying economy, etc,. I would not say these people are having the time of their lives. They are white AND they are terribly poor and suffering.
Timbuktu, I appreciate your comment. I’m the minority republican on here and I am not the stereotype that everyone says republicans are. It can be very hateful and polarizing on this website. I don’t think that’s a good thing at all.
I feel like this might be directed at me..I apologized up-thread about my comment and I truly did not mean to come across as hostile, guys.
I never meant to insinuate that there aren’t white people suffering in impoverished conditions in this country.
The link I included IS an incendiary one, but I think it’s a necessary perspective, one that is important in understanding that the white working class is not a monolith. On the contrary “white working class” is a vague and broad term that encompasses roughly 30-35% of the American population. Within that vast group of people there are indeed those that suffer greatly despite their many attempts to change their circumstances and a feeling of being abandoned by their government. But there are also some that simply have no desire to change, that are born into a certain political mindset–one that ultimately may not serve their best interests–and continue to perpetuate that mindset for generation after generation.
Sometimes that political mindset DOES stem from sheer frustration from being unable to overcome their circumstances. Other times it stems from a victim mentality, racism and/or any myriad of unsavory human qualities that we might prefer not to think about.
Again, my point was that this topic needs to be discussed in a complex, nuanced manner, not with a generalized, romanticized version of the truth.
But please accept my apologies if I came across as callous or unsympathetic–I truly never meant to offend anyone.
Kitten,
I can’t speak for others, but my post was definitely not directed at you, but very much a general feeling that I have had quite often, on many issues.
@Llamas
I’m a pretty hard-core Democrat, but I very much want to bridge the divide with reasonable people on the other side of the aisle. Unfortunately, in real life, we usually shut down and not talk about it at all for fear of losing friends and family members. In virtual life, the opening salvo of so many people is ridiculous, offensive, and horribly biased, that I either walk away or snark: I can tell we aren’t going to get anywhere by talking. 🙁 It’s very very hard to find reasonable people who can truly have the important discussions that this country needs to have to go forward, IMO.
I’m not sure I understand how he is Kanye’s protege? Perhaps “apologist” was a better word here?
Love him!!!