NRA in Noir-face

Killer Mike’s endorsement of the 2^nd Amendment was used in response to the “March for our Lives” protestors by the NRA. Consequently, Killer Mike was immediately embroiled in controversy for his support for gun ownership. While the negative responses that he got seem warranted given the context of Killer Mike’s remarks, many people have glossed over the fact that Mike has always been a fierce proponent of the 2^nd amendment especially when it comes to gun rights for black Americans. Because of his history with activism and organizing as well as his support for gun ownership, Killer Mike was specifically chosen by the NRA in a rather stale effort to advance their propaganda to black communities and respond to the young people marching for gun control. The specific video is a part of a new series by NRATV called NOIR and is hosted by another well-known black gun-rights activist Collin Idehen Jr.

               In the era of identity politics, conservative platforms have always found a way to capitalize on black faces to discredit opposing voices and make their causes seem like universal truths. However, what makes this video even more jarring is the very patronizing and mean-spirited address that Idehen Jr. gives to protestors in the beginning. He accused them of “wanting to burn the constitution” and “rewrite the parts that they like in crayon”. Again, there is nothing new about conservative personalities slinging logical fallacies at their opponents, but this instance is especially remarkable because it is replete with hypocrisy. The constitution that Idehen Jr. vehemently defends has been used time and time again as a tool to explicitly disenfranchise people that look like him.

               Idehen Jr.’s hypocrisy trickles into the interview with Killer Mike as he claims that he too is an ally of the victims of school shootings, however he just disagrees on how to save their lives. Personally, this comment was icing on a disgusting cake of faulty logic. Idehen Jr.’s has right to defend what he believes, but I had trouble seeing how he could possibly believe that the solution to solving mass shootings in the United States is to give more people guns. It’s already been proven that fighting fire with fire doesn’t work because when it became legal for civilians to access military grade assault rifles, mass shootings have increased exponentially.

               Surprisingly, I did make it through the whole video and I was continually astounded by Idehen Jr.’s blatant usage of loaded questions. While Killer Mike might have planted the seeds for this caustic interaction to happen, as the video went on it seemed even more apparent he was preyed upon and used by the NRA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXtpUE1b2NY