Throwing a vote away on a rapper with no true political stances only hurts those who are most marginalized—Black and Brown cis and trans women.
Kanye West made headlines again recently, not for a new album or his impending Gap collaboration, but for an interview with Forbes in which he declared that he intends to run for president in the 2020 election.
A week later, it’s unclear what’s happening with his campaign. West—who is certain he would make a better candidate for Black people and the nation than presumptive Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden—filed a Statement of Organization with the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday, though an adviser said earlier in the day that the rapper is reportedly ending his campaign.
Whether or not West follows through, one thing is clear: His anti-Black and misogynistic views are more about derailing voters than winning a presidential election.
In last week’s eclectic Forbes interview, West shared that he is taking off his “MAGA” hat because he no longer supports Donald Trump as president, that he considers himself “pro-life,” and believes Planned Parenthood health centers are placed in cities by “white supremacists to do the Devil’s work.” West’s comments are just the latest example of him using his platform to spread misogyny and white supremacy. More specifically, he’s a bullhorn for our nation’s deep-seated hatred of Black women.
Donald TrumpIt is easy to dismiss the interview as more of the same egomaniacal West trying to strive for relevance in a world where he has become extremely irrelevant, even more so with his revelation that he has never voted. But dismissing the impact of his interview would be short-sighted given his remaining popularity.
In an interview with Real 92.3 radio station, rapper YG claimed that he would vote for West, explaining, “He smart. He went Christian. He did the Christian album. He about to drop another Christian album. So he got all the people. He got the Christians, you know what I’m saying? So, now he runnin’ for president. They gon’ be like, ‘Oh, he’s a Christian! Oh my god, Yeezy! He’s Jesus! We gotta vote for him.”
Nevermind that he’s using that Christianity to deny half the population their right to health care—on par with anti-abortion politicians.
On Monday, Chance the Rapper indicated his support for West, tweeting that unlike Biden, West does not have “blood on his hands’”and “wants real change.”
After a swift response on social media, Chance walked back his comments in a series of tweets.
Rapper 50 Cent, meanwhile, mocked West in an interview with Billboard, claiming he also would run for president to “create a diversion for someone else” and “distract people.”
The chances of West becoming president in 2020 are statistically zero since he missed the filing deadlines in several states; however, that isn’t the main worry of his supposed run for president. His “campaign,” if it does continue, would serve as a distraction. Even if it doesn’t, the conversation has been ignited, and encouraging voters to write his name in or depress the vote in a pandemic-ridden nation where voters of color are systematically suppressed and disenfranchised.
His “campaign,” if it does continue, would serve as a distraction.
Voting is a form of harm reduction. It’s often selecting the least harmful candidate running for office in a long line of often unfortunate options propped up by corporations and party apparatus. As abolitionist activist Angela Davis recently explained on Democracy Now! about the 2020 presidential race, “Both parties remain connected to corporate capitalism. But the election will not so much be about who gets to lead the country to a better future, but rather how we can support ourselves and our own ability to continue to organize and place pressure on those in power.”
Black women have been working overtime to build a progressive infrastructure and shift the Democratic Party leftward, toward more equitable positions. Of course, it’s not there yet, but throwing a vote away on a rapper with no true political stances only hurts those who are most marginalized—Black and Brown cis and trans women.
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Chance may project that West’s candidacy would abolish prisons and homelessness, and honor reparations and treaties with Black and indigenous folks, but that’s all it is—projection. There’s no hope that a man who famously said “slavery was a choice” is going to become a champion for reparations. There’s no likelihood a man who is distrustful of a future coronavirus vaccine is going to save the lives of people in the United States, disproportionately people of color, who are dying at astronomical rates during the pandemic.
West doesn’t have any political stances—well, except for on abortion, and even that is based in white supremacist dogma. The majority of people who have abortions are people of color; anything less than full abolishment of the laws restricting our reproduction is not liberation for us.
No matter what, a West candidacy will damage the futures and rights of Black and Brown women across this nation and around the world. It’s not liberation if the road to it is paved with our pain.
What we must take seriously are the dog whistles West is using to influence the political opinions of Black men. The messages are white supremacy cloaked in misogynoir. They’re designed to encourage Black men to focus on one issue and sow distrust with a political system that has disinvested in all of us.
Part of political organizing and changing culture is challenging kinfolk who are trying to replace the same white supremacists with someone who looks like us, and instead reimagining that system while investing in the entirety of the Black community: immigrants, trans folks, disabled people, queer folks, and those of us who have abortions. As electoral politics strategist Jessica Byrd eloquently tweeted, “Electoral work isn’t just opinions. Black [people] have been tilling politically for decades…A coral reef of Black electoral work already exists.”
The goal of Black men should not be to amass power on par with white men to recreate the same oppressive systems under new management, which is exactly what West seems to be proposing. The goal should be to work with Black and Brown women to ensure that all of the most marginalized people are cared for. Throwing any of our freedoms out of the window on the way will never achieve that.
Renee Bracey Sherman Renee Bracey Sherman is a reproductive justice activist, abortion storyteller, strategist, and writer. She is the founder and executive director of We Testify, an organization dedicated to the representation of people who have abortions, and an executive producer of the documentary Ours to Tell.
