News of Cube's seeming alliance with Trump's anti-Black political empire set Black Twitter ablaze with anger and confusion; Cube responded by casting himself as a political maverick unafraid to go against the grain. Though he denounced Trump in 2016 , Cube's more recent foray into politics has been shaped by statements that regardless of political party, he wants change. The troubling history Ice Cube evokes50 Cent's rhetoric aside, there is also a troubling and gendered dimension to his endorsement of Trump and to Ice Cube's apparently "pox on both houses" perspective. Who gets erased by a 'both sides' approachCertainly, Ice Cube lending his support to a racially just America is important and noteworthy. The challenge Ice Cube and others cannot denyBlack men's pain, which Ice Cube's scowling image from his classic first two albums -- "Amerikkka's Most Wanted and Death Certificate" -- so brilliantly reflect, is real as reflected in their extraordinary rates of imprisonment, punishment and death.

Source: CNN October 20, 2020 22:41 UTC