At the American Music Awards last night, Macklemore brought up Trayvon Martin in a way that got up the nose of failed congressman, Fox News rabble rouser, and possible future joke presidential candidate Allen West:
... rapper Macklemore, in my estimation, gets the recognition for the stupid.
Macklemore made this statement via his video acceptance speech, "Due to the fact that we are in Florida tonight accepting this award I want to acknowledge Trayvon Martin and the hundreds and hundreds of kids each year that are dying due to racial profiling and the violence that follows it. This is really happening. These are our friends, our neighbors, our peers and our fans, and it's time that we look out for the youth and fight against racism and the laws that protect it."
This is a walking example of the low information voter. Is he unaware of the "knockout game?" Maybe he doesn't know, as Kevin Jackson points out, that black people kill more black people every six months than the KKK did in 86 years....
If Mr. Macklemore is so concerned about his "fans" perhaps he should sing more about ending violence, being responsible citizens, getting a better education, and stronger families in the black community. I might recommend he take a civics class and learn there are no laws protecting or institutionalizing racism in America....
West is offering the usual right-wing argument about racism, which is that unless you have personally protested every crime committed in America by a non-white person since the founding of the Republic, or at least since the election of Barack Obama, you are disqualified from talking about any racial injustice committed against a black person (even the ones -- or perhaps especially the ones -- in which the perpetrators walk free).
I bring this up because I want to remind you once again that Allen West initially responded in a very different way to Trayvon Martin's death. Here's what he wrote on Facebook:
I have sat back and allowed myself time to assess the current episode revealing itself in Sanford, Florida involving the shooting of 17-year-old Treyvon Martin. First of all, if all that has been reported is accurate, the Sanford Police Chief should be relieved of his duties due to what appears to be a mishandling of this shooting in its early stages.... The shooter, Mr Zimmerman, should have been held in custody and certainly should not be walking free, still having a concealed weapons carry permit. From my reading, it seems this young man was pursued and there was no probable cause to engage him, certainly not pursue and shoot him against the direction of the 911 responder.... I have signed a letter supporting a DOJ investigation....You an still read that statement at National Review Online. You can't read West's original Facebook post, however -- he took it down. (And see also this pro-Martin statement made to Talking Points Memo a month after the shooting.)
West figured out shortly after making that statement that he couldn't keep his right-wing cred if he spoke out against Martin's death. So a few months ago he declared that well-brought-up black youths simply aren't racially profiled. And now this.
West briefly had the courage to defy conservative correctness on this. Then he fell in line.
(Via Happy Nice Time People.)
