White Lives Matter

Did you get that little uproar about Kanye West's tasteless stunt the other day? He wore a T-shirt with the text "White Lives Matter" on his own fashion show with Candace Owen standing next to him wearing the exact same, but white on black instead of black on white.

Kanye, or "Ye" as he likes to be called now, did this after saying that Black Lives Matter is a scam. And yes, recently the movement has been scrutinized heavily due to allegations of misappropriating donated funds, with Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation leader Shalomyah Bowers being accused of stealing $10 million in donations just last month. As with so many movements, BLM did not escape the corrupting influence of money and greed. Also, I don't know how much of the original popular movement is left in, or represented by this "Global Network Foundation". But to then dismiss BLM as a scam altogether is something that behooves white supremacists alone; the popular message from BLM is and was right.

Let's be clear: there's nothing wrong to say or think that white lives matter, or that all lives matter, as that goes without saying. And that's exactly the problem with printing it on a shirt, a banner, a flag. The whole idea behind Black Lives Matter is that that obvious fact does not go without saying. Black Americans are in fact victims of a heavily racialized past and present. Advertising that "White Lives Matter", elevates (or reduces, you choose) white Americans to the same level of victimhood, which is not only ridiculous but a calculated move to delegitimize BLM's claim that Martin Luther King's dream of an America where blacks and whites are on equal footing is still just that: a dream. This is why these slogans, "White Lives Matter", "All Lives Matter" and "Blue Lives Matter" are deemed hate-speech; they're used by far right extremists, racists, white supremacists and white ethno-nationalists.

It's a sign of the time, and not a pretty one, that this is even debated. But it is, fiercely even. I can forgive Ye in a way, as the man is clearly not well; he suffers from bipolar disorder, which isn't anything to make fun of and must be a burden. On the other hand he does these crazy things to draw attention to himself and to make money. Owens on the other hand is just the same old useful tool for the far right she has been for years now. Just like Dave Rubin is their token gay man (a role he gratefully took over from Milo Yiannopoulos); people they can point to in order to "prove" they do not hate these marginalized minorities. Candace Owen is their walking, talking, breathing walking version of the old "I'm not racist, some of my best friends are black!" trope. Anyhow, that's it for today's short rant; watch the video linked below for some commentary from Hasanabi. Or watch this one from Vaush to see Ye sink even deeper into the far right swamp when he accuses "the Jews" of opposing him and his success.

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