Ukraine assumed its duties Friday as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and was already preparing Monday to call for a peacekeeping mission to be sent to the Donbass region, where a war between government forces and Russia-backed rebels continues. The move is likely to trigger objections from the Kremlin, which continues to…
Cover Photo Credit: JasonParis/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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FEEL THE BERN: Sanders Now Leading Clinton In Iowa
In a shock poll out today by Quinnipiac, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders leads former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Iowa.
Sanders leads Clinton by one point- 41% to 40%.
It is the first time that Sanders has been ahead of Clinton in a major polling survey in the Hawkeye state.
“Sen. Bernie Sanders has become the Eugene McCarthy of 2016,” Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll said in a press release today. “He is the candidate of the Democratic left, against his own party’s bosses and their prized presidential candidate, Secretary Hillary Clinton.
9-10-2015 Quinnipiac Poll:
Sanders- 41%
Clinton- 40%
Biden- 12%
O’Malley- 3%
Webb- 1%
Chafee- 0%The new Iowa survey was conducted between August 27 and September 8 and sampled 832 likely Democratic caucusgoers.
From the press release:
“There is a wide gender gap among Democrats today as Sanders leads Clinton 49 – 28 percent among men, with 16 percent for Biden, while Clinton leads Sanders 49 – 35 percent among women, with 9 percent for Biden.”
Cover Photo Credit: Phil Roeder/Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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“Suspicious Activity” Reported At Secret North Korean Nuclear Complex
Recent satellite imagery shows “suspicious activity” at North Korea’s nuclear complex in what could be a sign that Pyongyang might be trying to harvest weapons-grade plutonium from spent nuclear fuel, a U.S. website monitoring the North said Monday. The website 38 North said in a report that the satellite imagery has shown “exhaust plumes” from a… Read More
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‘George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People’: Ten Year Anniversary Of Kanye’s Iconic TV Moment
10 years ago today, Kanye West went on live television and told the world that George Bush doesn’t care about black people.
On September 2, 2005, four days after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the nation, in front of 8.5 million viewers, his sentiment reflected the frustrations of the American people in response to the failure of the federal government to provide aid to the thousands of victims of the category 5 hurricane.
“I hate the way they portray us in the media,” West said during the Concert For Hurricane Relief, NBC’s live broadcast to aid victims. “If you see a black family it says they’re looting, if you see a white family, it says they’re looking for food.”
At the time, the show’s producers and viewers dubbed the moment as controversial television. Today, it is considered one of the most iconic moments in television history.
Looking back ten years later, we can see how the rest of West’s speech was equally controversial to the George Bush line, as he criticized the Iraq war and acknowledged the disparity in the way media treats black victims and white victims.
Ten years later, #Bushdid911 broke barriers of conspiracy theory status to becoming a widespread Internet movement and joke in its own right. As the topic of police brutality and the killing of black people at the hands of the state have been brought to the forefront of political discussion, West’s ideas on the unfair media portrayal of black people are increasingly relevant today.
“We realize that a lot of people that could help right now are at war fighting another way—they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us,” West said in 2005.
West’s veracity in that moment has become a casual topic in the realm of pop culture as well. Two nights ago at the MTV Video Music Awards, West announced he’s running for president in 2020. Jokes aside about the delivery of his speech, West’s raw emotions have cascaded into a cultural movement for a younger generation to fight to be heard.
“This is a new mentality. We’re not gonna control our kids with brands. We not gonna teach low self-esteem and hate to our kids,” West said at the VMA’s. “We gonna teach our kids that they can be something. We gonna teach our kids that they can stand up for theyself! We gonna teach our kids to believe in themselves!”
While West isn’t necessarily a master of delivery in these unplanned and sincere moments, maybe he doesn’t have to be, as long as we take a step back and listen.
What do you think about Kanye West’s role in American political discourse? Tell us in the comments below.
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