Delgado does indeed represent ‘people like us’
I am writing in response to recent negative advertisements by the Congressional Leadership Fund concerning congressional candidate Antonio Delgado, who “used to be a rapper.”
What I hope that we all can say in November is that Rep. John Faso, R-kinderhook, used to be a congressman. Rap is an expression of elements of a culture for which neither Faso nor his supporters have any real knowledge, appreciation nor understanding, let alone any empathy for the life experiences of the people of color, artistically depicted in rap lyrics. That conclusion is supported by Faso’s alignment with President Donald Trump’s policies of exclusion and division. While some of rap’s metaphors and lyrics might be offensive to some, one can’t take them out of the context of the artistic medium and dismiss the emotions from which they are derived as “anti-american views.” That Delgado was elected by voters to be his party’s nominee for the 19th Congressional District is proof that Delgado represents the views of “people like us, people in rural New York.” Certainly, the people deserve a representative and a voice that has empathy for the human condition across racial and cultural lines.
To those who urge us not to judge the rapper “for things that happened a long time ago” or to “leave the album out of the political debate,” I’d suggest that this is what the political debate is really all about. Don simkin, D.D.S. Youngsville