On Kanye, Black Mothers, Child Beating, The American Presidency, and Me

To American Black Men Of Electable Age Who Could Win The Electoral College

It’s a real shame that we don’t applaud mothers for beating their children anymore. When I think about things that can stop the wiseacre 1980s TV sitcom sons running America as of late, the only feasible solution is a strong, single, African-American mother rising up, slapping the taste out of one of their mouths, and then making them grab a switch from the tree of Democracy. But, frustratingly, Congresswoman Maxine Waters is only asking to reclaim her time.

The reason I’d love to see Kanye West become the 46th President of the United States is that he, like me, is the 40-year old black son of a single black mother. Black women who became mothers in the era when the blaxpliotative brilliance of Shaft, Superfly, Black Caesar, and Three The Hard Way supplanted a period after the black male excellence of Malcolm, Martin, and the Panthers, had an indescribably difficult time. Black people, black families, black excellence, and black sanity were, in retrospect, savagely and socio-politically assaulted by violence…