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Kanye West: The Black Buck Essay

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From being known to creating compose hip-hop music, a fashion icon and establishing a foundation with his mother to being seen as the most hated celebrity in the entertainment industry. Kanye West took it upon himself to defend his opinion when it came to the winner of the Best Female Video on the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. By taking the stage and grabbing the microphone from the country music star Taylor Swift and basically stating that she did not deserve the title. The event left the audience and TV land very stocked. What some may not realize is that Kanye West displayed multiple stereotypes that society may think African Americans possess. The stereotypes, which were displayed, were drunkenness, outspokenness and the fact that a…show more content…
His angry then reflected him to showcase the stereotypes of a young black man in America. The award show was aired also two years after his mother passed away and it seemed as though he was still mourning the lost of not just his mother but also his best friend who has been there for him all of his life. If one were to know the true definition of a “Black Buck”, Kanye West would be the first person to come to mind that would fit the description. In post-Reconstruction United States, the Black Buck was a racial slur used to describe a certain type of African American male. To be specific, the name was used to describe black men who absolutely refused to bend to the law of white authority and were very violent, rude, and lecherous. D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation is perhaps one of the most well known examples of the use of the "Black Buck" stereotype in the form of a motion picture. In the film, a former slave named Gus (described by the filmmaker as "a renegade, a product of the vicious doctrines spread by the carpetbaggers") attempts to chase down a white woman named Flora to actually rape her. Rather than allow herself to be assaulted by Gus, she throws herself to her death. A spiral of events occurs which then ends with a state militia (led by the mulatto protégé of a local Congressman) clashes with the Ku Klux Klan (portrayed by the film as heroic figures), with the Klan being ultimately victorious. ((InfoRapid). Although Kanye West did not
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