Do we really want it back?

A week ago, I read a People Magazine article on rapper Kanye West’s controversial decision to sell and wear questionable merchandise at his latest tour. The merchandise features symbols of the Confederate flag, which the famous rapper is trying to “take back and make his own.”

For those who don’t already know, the Confederate flag has been met with mixed reception for several years, as endless debates have been conducted over whether the Confederate flag is a symbol of racism. Most conclude that it is a symbol of white power at a time when Whites wanted to uphold slavery and didn’t believe in the justification of equality for all people in America. For these individuals, it is a symbol that also stirs up the feelings of slavery, discrimination, Klu Klux Klan, and treason. On the other hand, there are others who conclude that the Confederate flag is not a symbol that represents racism at all. Instead, individuals feel that it is a symbol that represented the patriots who fought in the Civil War to protect America and make sure it remained as the founders intended.

Whatever the case, as of 2013, people are still allowing symbols and individuals to spark attention toward surface level issues, as well as accepting the means of their art to rationalize it. It is obvious that as we are looking at Kanye West, who has a record for garnering controversy for certain moves he has made both outside and inside the hip-hop world, we should be educating ourselves about why branding and commercialism are factors that won’t help mobilize people in America. While it is true that people should still oppose actions that only further degrade and  ostracize a particular group, we should also look deeper into social policies and the current position of Black America.

I can’t say that I was initially upset at West’s decision, but I was modestly surprised that he would feel as though making a brand out of a symbol, that is deeply rooted with so much scorn and opposition on American soil, would be a suitable prop for his artistic virtues. Outside of his decision, I would like to ask West one thing: when will you start challenging imperialistic thoughts and institutional issues, and stop attacking these surface level issues? Clearly that would be too complex for him because history has fooled him, just as much as history fools everyone else. I guess we are really in this New Slaves generation, as West calls it.