It seems the Black men I grew up admiring have grown suspicious of having their power questioned, Elamin Abdelmahmoud writes.
This month, Kanye West continued to destroy the goodwill he has left, first by wearing a White Lives Matter T-shirt at Paris Fashion Week, and then posting dangerous antisemitic tweets claiming that he will go “death con 3” on “JEWISH PEOPLE.” Public support for him is cratering in a way we have not seen before, not even after the rapper told TMZ in 2018 that slavery was a choice, or after he said iconic abolitionist Harriet Tubman “never actually freed the slaves.”
Dave Chappelle, who once took it upon himself to speak for Black people and extract lacerating comedy from the painful reality of racism, is now comfortable with tasteless anti-trans bits on the stage and shutting down low-income housing offstage. Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar is begging — pleading on his latest album — to be messy, offensive, even hurtful without apology.
West, Lamar, and Chappelle were once heroes to me. They made it their business to be symbols for young Black men. They used their art to name injustice, portray it vividly, render it clearly, and blast those responsible for it. They filled a cultural void and served as spokespeople. Now, they are no longer fit for the job — West has mistaken hateful screeds and personal grudges as speaking truth to power, Chappelle has lost the plot on where he should direct his fiery skill, and Lamar simply doesn’t want the job anymore.
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Source: https://www.buzzfeed.com/alexalee1/student-debt-forgiveness-kanye-kendrick-dave-chappelle
