Kanye West Wants $1M for New Moms, Slams Tubman at Campaign Rally

Self-declared presidential candidate Kanye West delivered a winding and unconventional marketing campaign introduction speech wherein he proposed a $1 million payout to every new mom and decried Harriet Tubman for her work on the Underground Railroad.

However whether or not the rapper and clothier is definitely looking for the nation’s highest workplace stays a query.

West mentioned Sunday earlier than a crowd of a number of hundred in North Charleston, South Carolina, that Tubman “by no means truly freed the slaves, she simply had them work for different white folks,” feedback that drew shouts of opposition from some within the crowd.

Tubman, among the many most revered figures in American historical past, escaped slavery, helped enslaved Black women and men journey north to freedom on the Underground Railroad and fought for the Union throughout the Civil Warfare. She later turned a supporter of ladies’s suffrage.

Regardless of Sunday’s occasion, West did not qualify as a candidate for the South Carolina poll. In line with State Election Fee spokesman Chris Whitmire, neither West nor a marketing campaign consultant handed in 10,000 signatures by midday Monday, as required by state legislation to look as a petition candidate.

“There was no petition at all,” Whitmire mentioned, of any correspondence from the marketing campaign.

Emails to an deal with purportedly for West’s marketing campaign weren’t returned as of Monday afternoon.

West missed the deadline to qualify for the poll in a number of different states, as effectively, and it was unclear if he was keen or in a position to acquire sufficient signatures required to qualify in others. Final week, he certified to look on Oklahoma’s presidential poll, the primary state the place he met the necessities earlier than the submitting deadline.

The entertainer, who’s married to actuality tv star Kim Kardashian West, initially introduced his candidacy on July 4. He mentioned he’s not a supporter of President Donald Trump’s.

Sporting a protecting vest and with “2021” shaved into his head, West on Sunday mentioned that whereas he believes abortion ought to be authorized, monetary incentives to assist struggling moms might assist discourage the observe, saying that his personal father had needed to abort him.

“All people that has a child will get 1,000,000 {dollars},” he mentioned for instance, including, “I don’t have the funding for it. However I’ve the platform to share the thought.”

Talking with no microphone, West turned tearful at one level whereas speaking about his mom, who died following cosmetic surgery problems in 2007. He additionally decried the shortage of minority illustration on company boards and in sports activities workforce possession, threatening to finish his cope with Adidas and Hole if not named to their company boards.

“Danger or no danger of shedding no matter deal doable, I’m not on the board at Adidas,” West mentioned. “I’m not on the board at Hole. And that has to alter right now, or I stroll away.”