Kanye West defies critics and wears controversial Confederate Flag jacket to boxing class

UK Daily Mail ^ | November 2, 2013 | Mike Larkin

[ConservativeStatement]

He has never been afraid to put his reputation on the line by indulging in controversial antics.

But many will be thinking Kanye West has gone too far after he brashly ignored critics and wore a jacket with a Confederate Flag patch in Los Angeles on Saturday.

The Georgia born singer was spotted in the garment after he worked up a sweat in a private boxing lesson.

[adorno]

Seriously, what does it mean when a black person wears that flag? What if you got a thousand black people to all wear that flag at a rally? It would be a profound statement of unity.

That "fashion statement" and any hidden meanings and any "profound statements", would quickly disappear as soon as a thousand white people joined the black rally wearing the same confederate flag on shirts and/or jackets.

Would the black people in the rally have any right to accuse any of the whites as racist? Could they even make the accusation?

[Squantos]

I have a t-shirt from Friends University of Central Kansas .... It happens .

Stay safe !

[EEGator]

The “guy” is Taylor Swift.

[Utilizer]

Hmmm. I knew another guy named Taylor, but that was many years ago back when I was in the military. Ferguson, it was. Had a son named Kevin. Perhaps young Kev also had a son and passed on the name? Who knows...

[EEGator]

Could be...

[Gene Eric]

Why is the Confederate Flag controversial?

Let me rephrase that for the arrogant. What specific relationship does the Confederate Flag have to racism?

[Shadowstrike]

And yet not one black person understands that not one slave was brought to this Country under the Stars and Bars, but that they were brought here under the Stars and Stripes.

[goat granny]

to say he hates blacks because of that, their nuts. My kids bought me a t shirt that says.....I am out of estrogen and I have a gun.....does that mean I am out to kill someone. yep, some people are nuts.

[goat granny]

since NASCAR started with rum runners and a lot of the stills were in the south, I can understand the confederate flag on their cars, and even today, there is nothing wrong with it on cars. If it offends you, don't go watch them.. slowly perfectly good words and symbols are being censored from our vocabulary....gay was a great word that meant fun time....we had a gay old time was one of the slogans and there was a movie The gay divorcee....thin skinned people that get offended wasn't raised by my parents....I was told to develop a thicker hide, also told my kids that. Its real hard of offend me, I don't give people that much power over my responses...

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

First of all, I truly doubt that you could find many white people willing to join a black rally, especially if they (the white people) were wearing stars and bars. It wouldn’t matter what the black people were doing, unless it was a religious gathering. White people would avoid it.

Second, if black people adopted the stars and bars, I doubt they would hesitate for a moment in criticizing white people for wearing it, for both being “racist” and “stealing” (co-opting) a now “black” symbol. That’s why I used the comparison with the “n” word hypocrisy.

This is why I see some degree of genius in what Kayne West is doing. If he could turn it into a fashion sense for blacks, and a unifying symbol, he would become a de-facto “black leader”.

[adorno]

First of all, I truly doubt that you could find many white people willing to join a black rally. The whites joining the rally would be doing so just to demonstrate the hypocrisy at play, and not because they would be joing in support.

Who says they would be "joining" the black rally? The whites in the rally would just be doing it to show the hypocrisy at play. The same kind of hypocrisy could be demonstrated if a black person was using the "n" word and then some white dude came along ans used the "n" word in front of the people where the blacks were using the "n" word.

If using the confederate flag and the "n" word were to be used and excused when blacks use them, then there could not be a case of racism when the whites used them. It the black folks are allowed the freedom expression via the confederate flag and the "n" word, then the same freedom would have to be allowed for whites.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

“If the black folks are allowed the freedom expression via the confederate flag and the “n” word, then the same freedom would have to be allowed for whites.”

You are arguing against hypocrisy, which is reasonable, but this is not an argument of reason. Blacks frequently call other blacks the “n” word, but lose their marbles when a white person uses the “n” word. It is indeed hypocritical, *but they do not care*. And that is the important thing.

Were blacks to adopt the stars and bars, they most likely would continue to vehemently resent white people displaying it. *They would not care* if they were being hypocritical.

Should society as a whole see them as hypocritical for both the “n” word, and if they adopted the stars and bars? Certainly they would. But as now, society would do nothing.

[Hot Tabasco]

Just what a black dude with anger management issues needs, boxing lesson......LOL!

[apocalypto]

Something is wrong with NASCAR? I just read they are punishing drivers for saying a word or holding an opinion that they, after the fact, decided should not be expressed.

[rockrr]

Good one!

[adorno]

Who cares about blacks being reasonable or not caring? All that I’ve tried to say is that, they should be confronted with the hypocrisy that they display, by joining them in doing the same things they believe are acceptable for them to do. It’s all about the hypocrisy and not allowing them to get away with what whites couldn’t do?

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

Typically the courts do not see it that way. On the small scale this might be changing, however. Anyone’s guess if it will become accepted in other courts.

http://news.yahoo.com/ny-case-puts-n-word-among-blacks-trial-071543769.html

In a case that gave a legal airing to the debate over use of the N-word among blacks, a federal jury has rejected a black manager’s argument that it was a term of love and endearment when he aimed it at black employee.

Jurors awarded $30,000 in punitive damages Tuesday after finding last week that the manager’s four-minute rant was hostile and discriminatory, and awarding $250,000 in compensatory damages.

[adorno]

The thing is that, if people don’t challenge the established rules among blacks or any other group, that are basically hypocritical in regards to racism or any type of discrimination, then the hypocrisy will remain. If something is wrong and unacceptable for anyone, as prescribed by law, then it’s unacceptable and wrong for all. No excuses and no preferential treatment.

[bigdaddy45]

Well, some people equate it with a country (CSA) that was fighting for the right to keep black people in slavery.