As if this season wasn't tumultuous enough with a global pandemic, social unrest and one of the most venomous election cycles in modern history, a rapper with a plan steps into the fray. And let me say this, what frustrated me most about Ice Cubes “plan” was not his intentions, which I thought were noble and ultimately meant well. What I am frustrated about is his ignorance and obvious lack of understanding of governance, as well as the arrogance and privilege associated with his platform. But in case you've been too busy, dealing with the repercussions of a viral plague that is killing hundreds of thousands, or if because of this pandemic you are required for the first time to now juggle being a parent AND a homeschool teacher, or if you've lost your business or income and have been struggling to make ends meet, you may have missed the latest black twitter buzz about the rapper known as Ice Cube and his contract for Black America. So let me briefly catch you up.
Ice Cube, frustrated by the economic and societal condition of Black people in America came up with a plan to give approximately 500 billion in reparations to African Americans. He came up with this plan about two months before one of the most consequential elections in modern American history and asked Black people to withhold their votes while he presented this plan to both the Trump and the Biden campaign. The Trump campaign added some of Ice Cubes "Black Contract With America" to their extremely thin plan regarding African Americans. The Biden campaign, who already had a plan for Black America told Ice Cube they would take elements of his plan into serious consideration after the election. So now that you're caught up, allow me to speak my peace.
Number One: THIS is not how it works. This is not how any of it works. CONGRESS is the purse of the nation. That’s why I always say, LOCAL ELECTIONS MATTER MORE because they have a greater effect on your everyday life. You vote for who you send to Congress to represent you and the needs of your community and state. Trump (who will be out of a job in a few weeks) can pretend to make any deal he wants. But if the speaker of the house doesn’t bring it to a vote and if it isn’t ratified by both legislative branches (the house and the senate and remember Mitch McConnell runs the senate) it’s a NONSTARTER, and there is NO DEAL. These folk can’t even agree to give financial relief to Americans who are struggling, dying and suffering because of a global pandemic. Now because a republican candidate who is losing in the polls and pandering for the black vote says he will include a rapper's talking points on a piece of paper, we are supposed to believe that the republican senate is going to give billions to black people during a pandemic. Do I need to go over how government works again boys and girls?
Number Two: Who is this man? I mean “Ice Cube”. WHO IS HE? He is apparently operating from a point of privilege that I find rather insulting. He didn’t campaign for my vote. He hasn’t come into my community to find out what my needs and concerns are. He didn’t take the time to tell me what he believes or get vetted. He hasn’t gone on a debate stage and had the earnestness to have his beliefs and track record questioned by an opponent who says he can represent me and the people of my state and community better. There are rules to this sh%t. And even Donald Trump for all of his faults has campaigned and gone out to voters and represented his platform. You don’t just get to speak for me because you’re a famous rapper who built a career on misogyny. And like I said, his intentions may have been good but it’s a lazy and self important move that thinks you don’t have to do what others have done who want the opportunity to speak on behalf of the people.
And finally, Number Three: Cube felt slighted by Dems because they said that they would look at his plan AFTER they were in office. Um..again, if you want to speak for the people it’s best to find out how the government of the people works. A civics lesson: Joe Biden holds NO LEGISLATIVE OR EXECUTIVE OFFICE. He has NO POWER. He is unable to employ anything offered to him. Cube might as well have given his plan to me. So when Biden said he would look at it after he was in office that was truly all he could do. HE TOLD THE TRUTH. If he said he would implement it, it would have been pandering and a flat out LIE. No president can do that. That’s the job of Congress. All presidents can do is sign what a congressional majority vote approves so that it goes through or a president can veto it. The fact that Ice Cube has no understanding of civics given that we all grew up on School House Rock is unacceptable. The fact that he waited this late in the game to flex his ignorance and attempt to disrupt the vote is almost unforgivable. But like I said, I believe his intentions were in the right place. But the truth is there is one certain path that will benefit the lives of African Americans and that is to vote for the Biden/Harris ticket and vote for a democrat for congress so that REAL CHANGE can happen, because THAT'S HOW IT REALLY WORKS.
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