By now, many have caught wind of Ava DuVernay’s 13th, the powerful Netflix documentary that chronicles the connection between slavery and the present day prison system, the laws that have tied them together across centuries and how the aforementioned wreaked havoc on the black community. Pusha T recently sat down with DuVernay to discuss the flick’s importance, even though I’m not 100% certain he’s actually watched it himself.
Currently, Pusha T stands as one of Hillary Clinton’s leading advocate in the rap community. He’s tweeted his support of her, sold anti-Trump tees, took part in one weird meet-and-greet promo and even popped up at an event with Clinton’s running mate Tim Kaine at an event over the weekend. Having rappers be politically active and endorsing candidates aren’t anything new. It’s just completely odd that Pusha T, a member of “Drug Dealers Anonymous,” would put his support behind Clinton, a politician whose husband pushed for certain laws that put thousands of brothers behind bars on drug charges. It’s a strong about face for a guy who has made a career out of rhymes talking about pushing dimes and kilos.
Which is why it’s even more odd to see Pusha interview DuVernay, whose documentary digs into the Clintons and their kind for creating legislation designed to imprison black men, giving them “absorbent amounts of time” under mandatory minimum laws. Bill Clinton created the ’94 Crime Bill and Hillary was right there with him helping to push it into law. And, with that push, Pusha T most likely watched his friends, family and fellow drug dealers go to jail, much like every black family who lost a dad, husband, brother, etc. over relatively small amounts of drugs, in most cases crack. You know, guys like Tony.
Hillary Clinton later apologized for infamous “superpredators” remark and her husband apologized, too, admitting those laws did more of a disservice than anyone could have ever imagined. Unfortunately, a pair of apologies won’t help the affected inmates recover the decades of time lost as they rotted in jail. Their kids are grown, the woman they love have long left them and all they’re left with is a half-life and an half-hearted apologies to go with it.
It’s all part of the information chronicled in detail in 13th, but I don’t think Pusha T watched it. That may be why he’s sitting there wearing a contented smile and reading from cue cards. It’s like that face students don when they’re giving a report on a topic they’re only familiar with on a surface level. That look that says “please don’t ask me anything that requires recalling specifics.”
Because even if he hadn’t done his full research on Hillary Clinton, he could’ve at least received a crash course on her from 13th and maybe reconsidered being such a strong supporter of a candidate who has done an untold amount of damage to the black community under the guise of the law.
