Very thoughtful. I was raised by Black middle class old school school teachers who were dismissive of Black pop culture. It goes without saying that my siblings and I did manage to get some exposure to popular entertainments but there was a level of critical distance that persists as it is after all motherwit.

What Mr. West’s latest antics display is perhaps the worst of it all: did the Black community as a whole vote, elect or otherwise appoint Kanye West as the most talented and artistic expression of the Black American mood? I don’t recall getting a ballot or even a pollster’s phone call.

Clue: consider that it took the Broadway theatrical producers more than a few days to darken the Great White Way one evening in honor of Diahann Caroll, the first Black woman to win a Tony Award. And as for any recognition of the great Jessye Norman, one of the youngest people to ever be awarded a Kennedy Center Honor?

Go back to school Mr. West. You need to learn some things.