Bigotry, that don’t impress me much
Credit: Google
Shania Twain decided to keep it all the way real and co-sign Donald Trump, declaring she would’ve voted for him. She’s Canadian and couldn’t join the ranks of the 53% of white women who did in the 2016 election. After the inevitable backlash and threats to stop playing Still The One in the morning hours (I still love that song), Shania chucked deuces to playing footsie with 45.
Shania’s desire to avoid being cancelled is in contrast to Kanye West who is going on a stream of consciousness about how we’re all in a slave mentality for not believing in his genius or ugly shoes.
I’ve long stopped taking Kanye seriously even before it was on trend. I don’t even believe he’s out of his mind. Kanye West is about Kanye West; yucking it up with Donald Trump and others who believe Black people are to solely blame for their circumstances, including being shot to death, is who Kanye is. He and Trump are two peas in a pod. Except that the Black community is still looking for redemption for Ye beyond his music.
Kanye has been offered so much grace over the years as though he is the only one that hurts or has ever grieved. Effie, we’ve all got pain. So many excuses have been made to coddle the reputation of a man who once said George Bush doesn’t care about Black people. He’s been looking mighty funny for a minute but folks just didn’t want to believe he was a jackass. Shania Twain will most likely be given room to walk back her co-sign of Trump because holding people accountable to their truths is just some wild concept. I believe Shania meant what she said. She likes his honesty. To steal a line from POTUS, many people have said that he tells it like it is. The scary part is that his rhetoric is turning into policy and eroding progress. Climate change, education, civil rights, gun control, immigration and a slew of other issues are at the mercy of a man who talks of grabbing women by the pussy, calling Mexicans rapists and describing other nations as shitholes. But he tells it like is. That just means to me that you have to agree with all of that or don’t take offense.
I’m a Christian but far from a perfect one. Please note that I don’t refer to myself as an evangelical. I want no parts of that label. It’s important to make that distinction because the latter has come to mean folks grandstanding on Sunday but hold contempt for their fellow man outside the church; as if favor for the fellow man ends after a certain hour and venom can slip as easily from lips as hymns. It’s just wild to me to see how many so called people of faith be so hostile to the next person. I don’t make it to church every week but I do my best to do unto others. Now, my Caribbean blood can boil and I can get called out my name for being assertive when need me. Still, you’ll never find me going out of my way to show malice. I feel guilty when I hurt someone’s feelings. So, it’s just not in me to be so cruel and look the other way. I’m the only Bible some people will ever read and my actions have to show for that. Discernment has to count as well and if some guy is boasting about sexual assault, demanding the Central Park 5 be executed for crimes they didn’t commit, finding Nazi’s to be good people, maligning NFL players who want justice and targeting the marginalized, I can’t jump on that wave.
To be clear, I don’t think all those that support Trump have an unconditional source of goodwill for him and support all that he does. But his character flaws are not a disqualifier to them. It is to me. It chills me to the bone to see the ugliest aspects of history repeating itself and half this country is good with that. I’m tired of marching and holding up signs but yet here we are. If you’ve never had to do any of that, consider yourself very privileged.
Maya Angelou said it best. When someone shows you who they are, believe them. Kanye and Shania did. I don’t need apologies from either but please don’t gaslight the rest of us.
