Kanye West Reaping What His Mother Sowed
The current public feud between Kanye West and his estranged wife Kim Kardashian West over their children is not a surprise to me. All you have to do is take a look back at Kanye’s life and read his own words in describing how his mother, Dr. Donda West, who died in 2007, treated Kanye’s father Ray West after the couple divorced when Kanye was only three years old. Dr. West took Kanye out of the country against his father’s wishes, as she furthered her career in academia.
Ray West by all indications is a solid brotha. A former member of the Black Panther Party and a longtime photo journalist at the Atlanta Journal Constitution, he now works in the Dominican Republic providing fresh water for residents as part of his Good Water Foundation, something he started in the United States with seed money provided by his son. The money he makes from this business he uses to fund projects like healthcare for women and he runs a charity for women who are victims of prostitution, according to The Daily Mail. He doesn’t fit the narrative of being an unfit father, so why was he not allowed to have a relationship with Kanye when the mogul was a child?
“My dad didn’t have money or a public voice when my mom destroyed me and his relationship,” Kanye recently wrote on his Instagram account. “I do this for every parent of either side who’s (sic) kids futures are being one sidedly (sp) controlled. I don’t even have the right to get angry as a father without being called eratic (sp).”
It is rare that I agree with Kanye on anything, but women weaponizing children in fights with their father is nothing new. Blackmen know the American court system is not tilted in their favor. Blackwomen know this too, and SOME, without scruples, will use the court against their former mate strictly for revenge purposes. The vindictiveness can be petty and only cause damage to the child, but some women can’t see the forest for the trees.
I had my own personal experiences with Dr. Donda West while I was a student at Chicago State University in the late 90’s, where she was the Chairperson of the English Department. She was not a nice lady to put it bluntly. She was rather arrogant and a pain in the ass to work with. I was the managing editor of the now defunct school newspaper TEMPO, when she was in her role. She was responsible for assigning me a faculty advisor to work with at the start of the school year. It took her a good three months and the person she sent was a bad fit, as she had served the previous year under a different editorial staff. I tried to arrange a meeting with Dr. West so we could work together on a candidate. Instead she sent a student-worker flunky over to tell me that I couldn't demand a meeting with her. So I cussed her flunky out and sent her back with a message of my own. An hour later, guess who popped up in my office? Dr. West was pissed, came over ranting and raving, flunky in tow, so I kicked her out of my office as she got escorted out by the campus police, who she didn't think could do anything to her because of her position. They told her she was technically in the Student Union Building and was trespassing in my office that was paid for by Illinois taxpayers. She was so mad she threatened to stop me from graduating, demanding to know if I had passed the English exit exam test yet? I knew she said it as a threat and could make good on it so I told her, “no, but I'm the best writer on this campus and if I somehow don't pass it, I’m coming for her ass.”
There was something about Dr. West that didn’t sit well with me. She seemed to have it in for Blackmen. Multiple men on campus from administrators to her fellow professors all seemed to have a Dr. West story of a negative encounter with her, despite her obvious talent level in academia. As I followed her son's career and some of the stuff he was doing, it clicked, I was like, "ohhhhh it all makes sense now.” Much of Kanye’s behavior seemed to be of him lashing out, eerily similar to his mother’s personality. Kanye is also bi-polar. But that doesn’t explain everything, a child’s relationship or lack thereof, with their father has a lot to do with disciplinary issues and emotional responses to situations that come about in life, according to multiple published studies on the subject.
Dr. West’s death tells you most of what you need to know about her personality. According to several media reports, she was told by a number of doctors not to have liposcution and mammoplasty cosmetic surgeries due to her heart disease and age. She didn’t listen. She kept going from doctor to doctor until she found one who would do the procedure. That was the Dr. West I knew, one who just couldn’t be told she was wrong. She found a doctor who would do the surgery. Dr. Jan Adams, who performed the surgery has publicly come out and stated he strongly advised Dr. West to receive in-patient post-op care. She refused and went home just six hours after the procedure. She died the following day as a result of complications from the procedure, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office. A hard head makes a soft behind.
Karma has a way of coming back to you and sometimes your children are the ones who bear the brunt of your choices. Dr. West took her son away from his father damaging their relationship. Now her son is seemingly having the same thing done to him by the mother of his children. You reap what you sow, even if you didn’t sow it.