Who knew? Kanye West loves, loves, loves white people. Just not enough to countenance “white publications” such as The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork writing about “black music.”
The Hollyood Reporter advises:
A little more than an hour before the Grammys were to start Monday night, … West wrote another series of controversial tweets, this time asking “white publications” to not write [sic] about “black music.”
One of the tweets, which follows, is interesting in terms of the claim it makes with respect to West’s lineage:
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/699374547347243008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
West might well be descended from slaves, but the likelihood that his “great grandfather” was a slave is pretty slim. Consider that more than a century and a half has elapsed since the Thirteenth Amendment, outlawing slavery, was ratified. Three generations spread over 150 years would mean the average age of the three sires (his great grandfather, grandfather, and father) would have been 50 at the time of their sons’ births. Making West’s claim even more dubious is a page at the website Digital History that fixes the average life expectancy of a slave at approximately 22 years.
Then again, if you read the tweet carefully, he wrote that he is the great grandson of ex slaves, which renders the whole claim meaningless. (A black born 500 years from now whose lineage includes slaves can claim to be the great grandson — or son, for that matter — of ex slaves.)
As for his request that “white publications” engage in self-censorship, he at least deserves brownie points for having asked politely:
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/699374499414691840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw