In today’s shocking-to-no-one news, Kim Kardashian admits she’d never given racism or discrimination any thought because, well, it just wasn’t her problem.
In a post titled “On My Mind” posted to her website the Vogue cover girl wrote:
To be honest, before I had North, I never really gave racism or discrimination a lot of thought. It is obviously a topic that Kanye is passionate about, but I guess it was easier for me to believe that it was someone else’s battle. But recently, I’ve read and personally experienced some incidents that have sickened me and made me take notice. I realize that racism and discrimination are still alive, and just as hateful and deadly as they ever have been.
Kim wants to take a pledge to ensure all children grow up in a world free of judgment because of race or sexual orientation.
“So the first step I’m taking is to stop pretending like this isn’t my issue or my problem, because it is, it’s everyone’s,” she wrote.
Better late than never, Kimmy Cakes. I’m not mad at her for at least wanting to stop pretending racism isn’t her problem. Like she said, it is everyone’s.
However, one must wonder how racism was never addressed pre-Kanye with all the black men Kim K’s dated, including the one she married at 19, the one who is the ultimate source of her fame (hi, Ray J), the second one she married (what up Kris Humphries) and the one she’s engaged to and had the gorgeous North West with.
Racism just wasn’t a thing Kim could worry her pretty little brain with.
Did none of these men ever talk about the day-to-day struggles of being a black man in America with their darling eye candy? Did they talk about anything other than…never mind. Perhaps they didn’t discuss race because they were the “new black” (looking at you Pharrell) where racism isn’t a thing because “black isn’t a color, it’s a spirit, and it’s ubiquitous.”
(Chile these “new black” Negroes are exhausting.)
When racism made national headlines like the Rodney King case (she was young, I know) or Sean Bell or Donald Trump’s not so subtle racism insisting president Obama prove he’s American or president Obama being called the “food stamp president” or Jordan Davis, did Kim bury her head in the sand? Was she too busy X-raying her booty for ratings to prove to America it was real? Was she out tanning?
It’s not just Kim though, as vapid as she is. Bless her heart. This is how white privilege works. White people have the privilege of walking around every single day without ever having to think about race. People of color aren’t so privileged.
Hopping on black peen doesn’t mean Kim—or anyone else who dates black men/woman—knows a thing about racism or discrimination. Obviously. It also doesn’t mean they can’t be racist, but hey, I’m not even supposed to be blogging right now. We’ll table that for later.
Get your girl a few books, Ye. May I suggest Nella Larsen’s Passing or Race Matters by Cornel West or the Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison or Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison or one of my personal favorites The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander.
Racism is real out here in these streets, Kimmy. Even for your millionaire fiancé who is constantly critiquing how the fashion industry basically told him, ‘you can’t sit with us.’
Help her out, Ye!
#FixItJesus
Hopefully Kim is also reconsidering her decision to raise her daughter to be colorblind. All of us who can see will see color, always. Seeing race isn’t the problem. It’s when there’s a system designed to oppress and discriminate against people because of race that is. Colorblindness isn’t the goal; it’s accepting and appreciating people for their racial differences .
North West will be biracial, but she will not be exempt from racism that is inevitable for people of color, particularly blacks. Depending on her skin tone as she gets older, that beautiful baby may be viewed by the world as a black girl and later black woman.
It’d be helpful if she had a mama who was fully aware of what that’ll entail.