There once was a man named “Old Kanye.” Actually, that tale is stale.
Cut to today, and we have the current iteration of Kanye West, which is…something else, indeed.
According to The Fader, between 7,000 and 10,000 people gathered at Gateway Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Saturday for West’s infamous Sunday Service, which has given many observers cult-like vibes.
During Saturday’s service, West decided (against better judgement…whatever that may be) to bring up the topic of slavery once again.
“That’s the Republican Party that freed the slaves,” he exclaimed as the sounds of his hit-single, “Jesus Walks,” played in the background. “But, for a year people want to call me a coon...I ain’t never made a decision only based on my color. That’s a form of slavery, mental slavery!”
“You’re black, so you can’t like Trump!” West said, mimicking his critics.
Two things:
For one, the Republican Party then didn’t have the same principles that we associate with the Republican Party of today; Republicans became “increasingly associated with big business and financial interests in the more industrialized North” during the Reconstruction era.
As History.com further explains:
Though the centrist Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was president from 1953 to 1961, actively supported equal rights for women and African Americans, a conservative resurgence led to Barry Goldwater’s nomination as president in 1964, continued with Richard Nixon’s ill-fated presidency and reached its culmination with the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980.
The South saw a major political sea change starting after World War II, as many white Southerners began migrating to the GOP due to their opposition to big government, expanded labor unions and Democratic support for civil rights, as well as conservative Christians’ opposition to abortion and other “culture war” issues.
Meanwhile, many black voters, who had remained loyal to the Republican Party since the Civil War, began voting Democratic after the Depression and the New Deal.
Also, the cognitive dissonance it takes to compare the refusal to vote for a white supremacist to “mental slavery” is amazing, so amazing.
It was just over a year ago when West came under fire for calling slavery a “choice” made by slaves.
Following the much-deserved backlash, he went on an apology tour, specifically targeting his hometown of Chicago with his supposed promises of contrition.
“I don’t know if I properly apologized for how that slave comment made people feel,” West said in an August 2018 interview with Chicago local radio station WGCI-FM. “So I want to take this moment right now to say...I’m sorry for people who felt let down by that moment.”
On Saturday, West also touched on his frustrations with social media and ranted about what he believes to be people prioritizing the controversy surrounding Jay-Z’s NFL deal over criminal justice reform.
In the meantime, Jesus Is King has yet to be released…so, Jesus is late.