Speak Out -- What for?

Last night while waiting for Larry King's 3 hour special, "How You Can Help," I chanced upon the video clip of Kanye West's statement during the MSNBC fundraiser. He stood before the camera, next to Mike Myers, and said, "I hate the way they portray us in the media. If you see a black family, it says they're looting. See a white family, it says they're looking for food." (scroll down this page to Brian Williams Sept 2 entry for a side by side photo and caption illustration of the point.)

He also said, "We already realized a lot of the people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way, and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us." But his last comment, before they cut away to an awkward and somewhat shocked and surprised Chris Tucker, was, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."

Given Kanye's background, as glimpsed in his song Never Let Me Down,

"I get down for my grandfather who took my momma
Made her sit in that seat where white folks aint wanna us to eat
At the tender age of 6 she was arrested for the sit in
With that in my blood i was born to be different..."

it's not surprising that Kanye would feel a responsibility to voice these concerns. What struck me most was how he looked; how he sounded. When he raps he sounds full of force and humor. But standing there before the cameras, he seemed like he was having breathing problems; you could almost see his heart pounding so hard that it was a huge challenge to speak or even to see.

This opportunity to voice his ideas in a different arena, I'm quite sure, intensified his awareness. To whom was he responsible in saying these things? How did it feel to make a blanket generalization about George Bush's feelings towards black people? He didn't look angry or high on irony (as his songs are), he looked like a child in pain.

I imagine that on reflection, he felt regret that he didn't instead focus on the heroism of people helping one another, on the massive job to be done and the massive courage of those doing their part. And one other note: how interesting that the "How You Can Help" show scheduled musical interludes in between reports and interviews and phone and website postings. As in village life, through the medium of television we viewers commune, share our pain, and are healed through the balm of our shared music.