Clockwise Cat Issue 40

Trump was endorsed by David Duke (a former KKK Grand Dragon), his
supporters include white nationalists (Read: Nazis) whom he refuses to criticize,
he was a notorious birther refusing to accept any of the overwhelming evidence
that Barack Obama was a U.S. citizen, and his real estate company avoided
renting to African Americans and gave preferential treatment to white people.
And that’s only the most cursory list! I could go on and on and on!
But Kanye loves him. Okay. How do you feel about James Earl Ray? When he
shot and killed the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., did he, too, have Dragon
Energy?
Perhaps Duke does – literally. Yet Yeezy ain’t tweeting him any support!
However, Kanye wasn’t done. Today on TMZ, he doubled down on his
contrarianism:
“When you hear about slavery for 400 years … For 400 years? That sounds like
a choice.“
And:
“You were there for 400 years and it’s all of y’all. It’s like we’re mentally
imprisoned.“
Okay, Kanye.
Hold up.
Yes, slavery works by imprisoning minds as well as bodies. The same with our
contemporary racial and economic cast system.
But to call slavery a choice – while true in a sense – minimizes how constrained
that choice was.
Before the Emancipation Proclamation, most slaves had a choice between life in
bondage or torture and death. They could try to run, try to organize and revolt or
just try to survive.
What kind of choice is that?
Run and you might get caught – risk the little you have and risk the safety of
anyone you care about for a dim chance at freedom.
And that was if there was anywhere to go. Without connections on the
Underground Railroad or other sympathetic forces, the very idea of trying to free
one’s self must have seemed next to impossible.