Can a Jamaican take Cali?: Kanye: "Bush hates black people!"

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Kanye: "Bush hates black people!"

So by now many of you have probably heard of Kanye West’s spontaneous outpouring of emotion during a hurricane relief effort culminating with the words “Bush hates Black People”. This is one of the best moments of live tv I have seen in awhile and so I had to incorporate the transcript from the show as well as a link to watch video of the incident.
Bear in mind that everything was supposed to be scripted and read from a teleprompter.

Myers: The landscape of the city has changed dramatically, tragically and perhaps irreversibly. There is now over 25 feet of water where there was once city streets and thriving neighborhoods.

West: I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family, it says, "They're looting." You see a white family, it says, "They're looking for food." And, you know, it's been five days [waiting for federal help] because most of the people are black. And even for me to complain about it, I would be a hypocrite because I've tried to turn away from the TV because it's too hard to watch. I've even been shopping before even giving a donation, so now I'm calling my business manager right now to see what is the biggest amount I can give, and just to imagine if I was down there, and those are my people down there. So anybody out there that wants to do anything that we can help -- with the way America is set up to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off, as slow as possible. I mean, the Red Cross is doing everything they can. We already realize a lot of people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way -- and they've given them permission to go down and shoot us!

(Kanye then turns to Mike Myers because I guess it was his turn on the teleprompter)

Myers: And subtle, but in many ways even more profoundly devastating, is the lasting damage to the survivors' will to rebuild and remain in the area. The destruction of the spirit of the people of southern Louisiana and Mississippi may end up being the most tragic loss of all.

(Crazily enough Mike Myers actually threw it back to Kanye or as the Washington post put it [“And, because Myers is apparently as dumb as his Alfalfa hair, he throws it back to West.”])

West: George Bush doesn't care about black people!

(they then cut to Chris Tucker with Myers in the back ground saying…)
Myers: Please call . . .

I love them at the end kicking it to Chris Tucker by cutting away abruptly from Kanye and Chris Tucker having that WTF somebody save me look on his face.

Video of the incident http://s43.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3U9SXJ033M8B62KE31EU65K9Z2

12 comments:

Maria Elisa said...: Boy has some balls. He may not be articulate, but he has the cojones to say what he really feels rather than being a mouth piece.; 9:50 PM
Anonymous said...: Quite possibly one of the most idiotic comments made on t.v. Everything is Bush's fault. 9/11 was Bush's fault, higher gas prices are Bush's fault, and now Hurricane Katrina and its after effects are Bush's fault. And I'm glad Kanye West, the most knowledgeable, educated, political humanitarian is out there pointing the blame, as if he is basing his comments on something other than a 5 minute clip he saw on CNN. Actors and Artists should not be the voice of this country. If you are going to blame someone how about blaming the person who is actually in charge, namely FEMA and the FEMA director or maybe look at the red cross. It would be nice if people thought before they spoke and it would be even better if they would stick the race card up their ass instead of throwing it around as if that was the reason behind everything that goes on.
By the way, Reagan introduced crack into the urban cities in order to prevent african americans from succeeded in american society.; 11:08 PM
Anonymous said...: I think Kanye is right, Bush doesn't give a shit about black people. I guarantee if the same thing happened in Orange County they would have had all the residents airlifted out of there within hours. I generally hate when people play the race card, but in this case it was justified. How much more has to happen before people start realizing just how callous and incompetent Bush really is?; 12:25 AM
Cali J said...: Hahahahah "This racism is killing me" --Chapelle. I long ago posted that I think peeps are crazy for following everything artists/actors say or whatever. Anyone can have their opinion (not everyone should voice etc) but whatever. Kanye said his thing, a commenter seems to have taken offense to it...and it goes on from there. Kind of funny though that u immediately assume that his comment is based on a 5 minute clip of the news or whatever. Seemed like he was talking what he really felt and what many black peeps in America feel. If he plays the race card maybe it's because he has it in his deck to play? Why would that make you mad? If his statement brought in more peeps to the cause to give money (let's say more black peeps give) then at this stage let him say it (I think some of it was wrong and ill timed but whatever). Let's not get too caught up in it, I posted it cause I thought it was funny. Now is not the time to place blame on Kanye, the president, FEMA, the Mayor, the Governor or whomever let's just band together and give.; 1:11 AM
Cali J said...: Another quick comment...many of you USD peeps may have missed that the SBA is doing a drive for Katrina. In fact I missed it too, because they have chosen to couple it with the same table that they are selling t-shirts from and the flyer for the Aid thing also contains the words t-shirt etc and is filled with so much damn writing that I have noticed peeps just pass over it and I even heard one SBA member state I just passed it because there was so much writing. I think this is something that we need to separate away from the t-shirt (flea market looking table) and allow peeps to come up to the table w/o feeling like at the same time they are being pressured to purchase a t-shirt.; 1:16 AM
Anonymous said...: I have to agree with the first anonymous poster that this was a pretty ridiculous accusation to make. I sincerely doubt Kanye has much, if any, political knowledge, or any clue about how the government runs. I am so tired of celebrities, without any qualifications, deciding that they can become political commentators. In addition to being ridiculous, it was a pretty stupid move on his part. He is trying to appeal to the public, and the people he really needs to appeal to are white people. White people have far more money to give. While throwing the race card and criticizing our president may encourage some liberals to give money, it angers/annoys/turns off a large percentage of the population who has the most money. In this day and age it seems like the race card is thrown at any and every opportunity and without much thought. It has turned into a knee-jerk reaction to anything that goes wrong. Unfortunately, what this is doing is making people desensitized to the issue. Furthermore, this is pretty much a guarantee that he will not be hired by mainstream media to do anything similar to this again.; 7:38 AM
Maria Elisa said...: So I guess my question is this: Do you think that there was no merit to anything Kanye said? Many of us noticed that what black people were doing was described as looting while they described the same action by white folks as searching for food.

Further, we have to remember that racism is rampant in the southern states (and else where apparently). Just b/c some people go over board with the "race card" doesn't mean that racism is never an issue. It would be a mistake to turn a blind eye to that.

Yes celebrities can be annoying sometimes and sometimes they speak out of turn, however they are like anybody else with an opinion. Many of them are educated and knowledgeable. It would be stupid to make the mistaken assumption that being a celebrity means you aren't qualified to have a political opinion.

I'm educated and knowledgeable and while I think it's ridiculous to blame the President for this disaster and the fall out, I do believe that the poor and the people of color (most of the time they tend to be one and the same)may be getting the shit end of the deal here. I agree with one of the previous commentators that if this happened in OC shit would have been taken care of immediately (except for Santa Ana of course).; 7:57 AM
Cali J said...: Anonymous (if that is your real name) you do know that you yourself are throwing the race card also: "White people have far more money to give" and "While throwing the race card and criticizing our president may encourage some liberals to give money, it angers/annoys/turns off a large percentage of the population who has the most money" What is the sense in that, if people are going to take one mans comments about the president as the reason to not give money to people suffering from a disaster then hell I think I might have to call them Ignorant, Racist, Dumb and any other derogatory term handy at the moment.; 11:56 AM
Anonymous said...: Saying that white people have more money to give is NOT throwing the race card. That is a ridiculous statement. So according to you, any statement that makes a reference to race is throwing the race card? I don't think so.; 7:41 PM
Anonymous said...: Bush doesn't hate Black people, he hates poor people and Kanye doesn't fall into that catergory. He should know better.; 11:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Are you serious? This is a prime case of racism and classism. George Bush doesn't give a rat's behind about the poor or African American's. It just happenend that this horrific tragedy consumed a city composed of 80% Black people. You may ask, why so many people are blaming things on Bush? Well, let me think............. He's the freaken President. By allowing those people to live in those conditions should have been proof enough that he doesn't give a s**t about us. I am about to finish 2 Masters degrees and begin working on a Ph.D. and I'm far from poor. I STILL realize, Bush don't like my Black A**!!; 8:55 PM
Anonymous said...: Yea I guess when President Bush heard the news New Orleans was under water he must have said "Oh that's a Democratic black city so let them all die." Anybody using the race card in this situation shows how dumb they really are. The federal government is not responsible to evacuate a city that built a levee 40 years ago to handle a Cat 3 Hurricane. The black Mayor and moronic Governor are responsible for being unprepared for what happened and not using the resources at there command. If you have half a brain you will take time to see that FEMA is not in charge of evacuating in any sort of tragedy. I saw Bush out there offering help before the storm hit and even there again on Tuesday when the Governor told him that she wanted an extra day to think about his offer for help. The federal government took over because it became obvious the city and state leaders had no plan to deal with what happened and couldn’t work out their differences. By the way Kanye the Mayor is black and the Governor is white. I'm sorry but Kanye West but I didn't see your black A** flying to New Orleans in your private jet to offer food, help, supplies or even money. If a guy is walking down the flooded streets of New Orleans carrying a TV and some DVD players on his shoulders and he happens to be black then he is a looter…. If it is a loaf of bread and some diapers then he his probably a trying to survive a difficult time like every black/white person that stayed behind when a CAT 5 hurricane was heading to a city that was not prepared for more than a CAT 3 hurricane even thought they were told to leave!!!!; 10:24 PM

Can a Jamaican take Cali?

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Kanye: "Bush hates black people!"

12 comments:

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