With support from the University of Richmond
History News Network

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Source: The Root
Roundup: Media's Take
11-5-13

Kanye West’s Ego Can’t Change History

by Elon James White

Elon James White is a writer and host of the award-winning video and radio series This Week in Blackness. Listen Monday to Thursday at 3 p.m. EST on TWIB.FM.  Subscribe to the TWIB.FM Network on iTunes. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ and Tumblr.

(The Root)—The Confederate flag has been getting a lot of press recently.

You’ve probably read stories of students wearing the flag to school, the flag being waved at the gates of the White House and the “that’s not what it means” debate. Is it Southern pride or the symbol of American oppression’s past? Most Americans have the common sense or at least the common decency not to parade the flag around, even if they agree with its supposedly controversial meaning.

Enter Kanye West.

Mr. West, troublemaker supreme, in a move that must have had record-label executives and #TeamYeezy’s branding crew on edge, has branded his Yeezus tour with the Confederate flag. No, Mr. West hasn’t found slave owners in his family tree and decided to show family pride....

Read entire article at The Root