Perhaps one of the most aggravating realities of social justice movements like Black Lives Matter is when Black people themselves proclaim it to be a non-issue. While those who do so tend to be only a handful, their views still gain massive traction and usually with those who have denounced it from the inception.
It creates a strange, faux counter-reality where people use identity politics to paint a situation with the same brush in a single stroke. In other words, if one Black person is saying this, then this gives us further justification to call the whole thing a sham.
Last week when Kanye’s West obnoxious t-shirt from Paris Fashion Week that carried the words “White Lives Matter” in bold print at the back made headlines, all I could do was roll my eyes. I should probably say roll my eyes even more since in the run-up to this atrocity, he realised a series of Instagram posts accusing fashion heavyweights of stifling black artists.
If it weren’t for his spiralling mental health issues, I would say he was cooking up any type of publicity to further direct attention to his hardly desirable and overpriced collection. Whatever the motive, the bitter taste it left is hard to shake. This isn’t art and this isn’t fashion. This is wilful incitement and it offers up ammunition in polarised societies particularly where West was born and lives – America
Some may argue that artists have a right to produce art how they see fit and to be able to use their creative abilities to tell the story of society’s reality freely. While that may be true it does not give them the right to create art which is offensive and could be weaponised into a tool for more hate.
The Black Lives Matter movement had an uphill battle when it came to getting people to understand why the slogan didn’t include anyone else. To say it is even exhausting to do this on your own is an understatement. It’s almost like repeatedly explaining to your community why your trauma is relevant. It is constantly begging people to see your humanity and to help find solutions.
In Germany where I live, it is a crime to create or use any form of image associated with Hitler. Cars are forbidden from having the HH letters in the number plate because the letters themselves can identify with the easily recognisable salute and symbols of Nazism. To argue that white people themselves are somewhat in need of coddling with this lousy t-shirt, instead of lessons in how they could help to unravel systematic and institutionalised racism is callous and downright ignorant.
This isn’t art or a creative genius at work. This is a seriously troubled man creating items that can be used to incite violence and escalate tension. Herein lies another reality that fashion should be left up to the designers and rapping to be left up to the rappers.
