Kim Kardashian penned a thoughtful essay on systematic racism and general discrimination, yet all people seem to want to do is make fun of her for it. Beyoncé wrote an essay on feminism that was the most rudimentary, middle school scribble-scrabble on how “being a woman is hard,” an essay that would earn an F minus in any college class, yet people praised her for that. Kim’s essay is much more thoughtful and well-written than Bey’s and she is getting picked on. Meanwhile Beyoncé was published in a feminist publication whereas Kim’s is just a blog post. I am not getting all the hate.
I am not even hating on Bey’s Lisa Frank diary essay because I believe it’s fundamentally wrong to mock people who are not yet thinking about important issues on the same level that you are. It’s OK that Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian aren’t experts, they weren’t women’s studies or American history majors. It’s such a huge step for anyone to acknowledge sexism, racism and discrimination on a systematic level. I don’t care if takes you a lifetime. We’re all learning about these things at a different pace (I’m no expert) and it’s especially hard to understand the obstacles others face when our personal experiences don’t support these facts. As a white person, you typically won’t experience institutional racism and you probably don’t consider you or the people you know to be racists, thus you have to take other people’s words for it in order to accept that it’s a real issue. That isn’t always an easy thing to do.
It took Kim Kardashian several non-white boyfriends, one Black husband and one biracial baby to understand that racism is a battle for us all, not just for those who get the brunt of it. In my opinion this is the kind of acknowledgement marginalized people need; it’s support from those with power, platforms and resources and yes, that means celebrities. You’re going to read a lot of headlines that say, “Kim Kardashian Discovers Racism,” because bloggers want to be condescending. Kim Kardashian didn’t just discover racism, she simply realized that just because it hasn’t directly affected her doesn’t mean she shouldn’t be working to end it.
I don’t hate Kim Kardashian but I don’t like her either. I don’t think she is a genius but I certainly don’t think she is as a dumb as most people do. Kim is, more than anything, a cultural symbol that people like to project all of their cultural angst on: “Why does someone with ‘no talent’ get to be so famous and have so much when I am so smart and talented and don’t get a fraction of what she has?” appears to be the general tone of Kim haters. Well, if that’s your qualm then the problem isn’t Kim, the problem is a culture that likes to watch and reward very wealthy people who behave vapidly. Don’t hate on the Ks for being smart enough to know how to take the money you gladly give them.
Kim writes:
“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.
I feel a responsibility as a mother, a public figure, a human being, to do what I can to make sure that not only my child, but all children, don’t have to grow up in a world where they are judged by the color of their skin, or their gender, or their sexual orientation. I want my daughter growing up in a world where love for one another is the most important thing.
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… because the California teenager who was harassed and killed by his classmates for being gay, the teenage blogger in Pakistan who was shot on her school bus for speaking out in favor of women’s rights, the boy in Florida who was wrongly accused of committing a crime and ultimately killed because of the color of his skin, they are all someone’s son and someone’s daughter and it is our responsibility to give them a voice and speak out for those who can’t and hopefully in the process, ensure that hate is something our children never have to see.”
Whatever it takes to get people to a point where they want to fight the good fight, then whatever it takes. Picking on someone who has made an important realization that will positively impact, at the very least, her daughter’s life, is just going push those who have not yet made the same realization away.
