We asked 8 Black Jews to weigh in on the Kanye West mess

[Guno צְבִי]

Kohenet Harriette E. Wimms is a licensed psychologist in Maryland. She was recently named a Jew of Color Engagement Fellow at The Associated Jewish Federation of Baltimore and is the founder and executive director of the Jews of Color Mispacha Project.

As a psychologist who is also a Black Jew, when I hear about Kanye West (which I often do from my teenager), I become acutely aware of his mental illness. As the Black feminist psychologist, scholar, and educator Janet E. Helms says, racism, antisemitism, sexism, etc., are salient mental illnesses.

I hear what Kanye says. His politics frighten me. I respond through the lens of, “this person is very ill.” Many people have seen him say and do extremist things. The fact that he can align with Trump really elucidates his lack of personal and social awareness. It’s just so incongruent that it has to be suspect. And while I am definitely not ableist, and not saying that people who struggle with mental illness are not valid, just the fact that he can align with Donald Trump shows me that he is very unwell.

https://forward.com/culture/523097/black-jewish-reaction-kanye-west-antisemitism/

 

[Guno צְבִי]

Rabbi Shais Rashon, known as MaNishtana, is an African American Orthodox Jewish author, writer, educator and public speaker.

If there had been a strong backlash in 2011, when Kanye started comparing himself to Hitler, or in 2018, to his statement that “slavery was a choice” for Black people, or to his years of misogynoir comments, we wouldn’t have gotten to this point. When he first started manifesting into the persona that he is now, after his mother died, there was a moment of important conversation about Black mental health. But after a certain point, you can’t blame your mental illness for being a jerk.

 

[PostmodernProphet]

were any of them Guano?.....

 

[Nordberg]

Trump had dinner with them because they are of like mind. It was no faux pas. It was a dinner at Trump's home. No oops is permitted. This is who Trump is.