In a stunning display of mindless pandering, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo promoted a video ostensibly designed to persuade more black Americans to get the COVID-19 vaccination. The black community has been suspicious of the injection despite being disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
On Thursday, Cuomo posted a tweet with a video created by a group called “Hip Hop Health,” which features a hip hop music icon Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, who was a member of Run DMC back in the ‘80s. The music video shows McDaniels rapping lyrics intended to educate black folks about how vaccines work and why they should not be hesitant to get inoculated against the coronavirus.
“Great video from @HHPHorg featuring @THEKINGDMC and more,” Cuomo wrote. “Let’s fight fear with facts Flexed biceps”
Cuomo’s tweet was met with derision from black Twitter users incensed at his blatant attempt to pander to the black community by acting as if a hip-hop song would be the way to get through to them. Here are just a few of those who pilloried the governor for his misstep.
The criticism directed at Cuomo was well-deserved, but the clueless individuals who actually thought this video would be a good idea also deserve their share of scorn. The notion that using a rap music video that looked like it was meant for kids to reach black people is absurd. They truly believed that speaking to black people like adults was NOT the best way to address them.
Now, imagine for a second how Democrats would react if a Republican politician pushed a video like this to persuade black people to embrace one of their initiatives. Left-leaning pundits, politicians, and media activists would be howling to the moon about how racist the video was. They would launch a full-on cancelation campaign to destroy any artists involved with the project.
So far, it was only rank-and-file black folks who took issue with the video and Cuomo’s tweet. The black Democratic leaders and influencers who looked the other way when President Biden claimed that black people who don’t vote for him “ain’t black” are doing the same when it comes to Gov. Cuomo. Perhaps these people don’t really care about racism as much as they would like us to think.
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