Kanye West already had some controversial thoughts about slavery that resulted in plenty of backlash from the internet this year, but new pushback arrived Sunday after he appeared to suggest abolishing the 13th Amendment, which prompted criticism from none other than Captain America himself.
After performing on Saturday Night Live, West posted a photo of himself on a plane wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat—which he’s worn before—and called for the abolishment of the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which abolished slavery.
“We will provide jobs for all who are free from prisons as we abolish the 13th amendment,” he wrote.
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1046466533973590016
The disconcerting Kanye West 13th Amendment tweet was almost instantly criticized. Chris Evans, in particular, noted how frustrating it is to debate someone “who doesn’t know history, doesn’t read books, and frames their myopia as virtue.”
https://twitter.com/ChrisEvans/status/1046483677184700420
West later clarified that he simply wanted to get rid of the loophole in the 13th Amendment, which allows an exception for slavery or involuntary servitude “as a punishment for a crime of where the party shall have been duly convicted.”
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1046490057522085888
https://twitter.com/kanyewest/status/1046495010500182016
He’s likely referring to the U.S. prison industrial complex. While the overall incarceration rate is at a 20-year low, it disproportionately affects people of color; it especially affects Black people, who are imprisoned more than five times as much as white people. The U.S.’s mass incarceration and how many say it’s essentially continued slavery since its abolishment is covered in Ava DuVernay’s Oscar-nominated documentary 13th.
DuVernay, for her part, chose not to engage with West’s tweets about the 13th Amendment, both his call to abolish and later amend it.
https://twitter.com/ava/status/1046497897892712448
H/T Cosmopolitan