Somehow, Kanye West has received roughly 60,000 votes across a dozen states. While this is a very, very small amount of votes, it is still frustrating to see West get any votes as well as the rapper’s claim that he is running in 2024.
PEOPLE is sharing that the rapper got 0.3 percent of the total vote in Tennessee, with 10,216 votes and roughly 0.4 percent of the vote in Idaho, Utah, and Oklahoma. In other states, the College Dropout rapper did not pick up much anywhere else. Still, as this election proves to be coming down to every individual vote, a vote for West, someone who is literally going through something before us all feels like a giant waste.
2016 radicalized me, so I’m not going to judge people who engage in civil disobedience when it comes to voting, especially those who dedicate themselves to community work every day. The fact that the race is this close is an inditement on white people and those in the Republican wing who are content to have a racist, xenophobic president whose string-pullers want to stop all abortion rights in the country. It is a disgrace, but as I spend time listening to political podcasts about the history of the U.S election, it does not shock me as much as it would have 5 years ago.
What is jarring about West, Ice Cube, Lil Wayne and all of these other rappers who are coming out to support Trump is that we have seen proof beyond measure that the Trump administration only cares about Black people when they can do something for him. Now Trump and hip-hop (sadly) have a long intermingled history, but considering that Kanye West once said “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people,” that he now still calls Trump his “brother” from time to time is just … ugh, emotionally taxing.
Not simply because Trump is a Republican, but because Trump is a racist who stands for nothing but power and control. It is so flagrant and yet people are falling for it left and right.
West has conceded the election, but as I currently bite my nails down in anxiety as we await the final results, it is just a reminder that this whole thing is an exhausting process and we need to do better. From the ground up.
(via PEOPLE, image: ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Published: Nov 5, 2020 05:12 pm