Kanye West did it again. The mercurial artist was trending on Twitter yesterday for wearing a “White Lives Matter'' shirt at his fashion show in Paris. He added insult to the injury of his critics by taking a side-by-side picture with Candace Owens, who also wore a shirt with the message the Anti-Defamation League calls a “hate slogan.”

It is unclear why West made this sartorial decision, aside from a desire to get free publicity and simultaneously troll his detractors.

The response from his loudest critics made one thing crystal clear: Black artists and celebrities can promote death, destruction, and dysfunction with no social penalties, but publicly expressing views the cultural gatekeepers find objectionable is an unpardonable sin.

Marc Lamont Hill called West's decision to wear the shirt “disgusting, dangerous, and irresponsible.” He then posted another tweet that simply said “Black Lives Matter” in what seemed like an attempt to ensure that all of his followers stayed on message. When it comes to politics, even a prison abolitionist can turn into the thought police.

Jemele Hill and Shaun King also criticized West. Louisiana rapper Boosie also chimed in and asked why Kanye didn’t think of all the black people who died at the hands of white people.

Boosie, like many other artists who rap about shooting other black men, seems to think black lives only matter when white people take them. In effect, the most influential black politicians, pundits, professors, and preachers have always supported White Lives Matter.

The ultimate determinant of whether BLM takes to the streets – or social media – to protest has little to do with black victims. If protecting black lives were the purpose of BLM, then children like Davell Gardner Jr., Nyiah Courtney, Jaslyn Adams, and Secoriea Turner would be household names. Black leaders would use every resource at their disposal to draw attention to their lives in hopes of getting young men in their communities to put their guns down.

The NAACP would work with the NBA, NFL, Fortune 500 companies, and corporate media to raise awareness around one of the most sobering facts in American social life: Homicide is the leading cause of death for young black men and second leading cause of incarceration among black inmates in state prisons.

Bringing up these facts is the quickest way to turn even the most hard-core BLM supporter into a WLM activist. Conservatives who bring up the homicide numbers in Chicago are predictably met with “What about white-on-white crime?” by the same people who never ask about white people who die at the hands of police.

If BLM were really interested in saving black lives, the group would make their case on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in the heart of every big city, not the leafy white suburbs where the organization’s founders are most likely to buy property.

Black Lives Matter supporters have never been interested in those difficult conversations. That’s because what determines their outrage is not the brutality of a crime – it’s the melanin level of the criminal. White perpetrators are given top priority. Black ones have to sit in the back of the bus.

BLM’s hypocrisy is just as evident in the left’s favorite death industry.

Black women account for close to 40% of this nation’s abortions, but somehow this racial disparity related to the destruction of “black bodies” has never been an issue for America’s foremost racial equity champions. In fact, Democrats push abortion in the black community with much more passion than marriage and the nuclear family.

They support abortion clinics in the hood and fertility clinics in the suburbs.

For as much as the left accuses the right of racism, the simple truth is that a black baby in utero has a much better chance of being born alive if his young mother receives counsel outside an abortion clinic from a white Christian conservative than he does if she speaks to a hard-core BLM activist.

Lila Rose and the countless abortion abolitionists holding “Choose Life” signs at pro-life rallies are doing more to save black lives than Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and the “black liberation” organizations that believe in “abortion by any means necessary.”

The reactions to Kanye’s stunt prove why Black Lives Matter was the most lucrative con job in recent memory. The people attacking him are the ones who prioritize fake hate crimes and minor interpersonal disputes involving white “Karens” over real street crimes.

They do so because no one in America today believes in white superiority more than black elites who think the thoughts, feelings, words, and actions of white people matter infinitely more than those of black people.

The only difference between them and Kanye is that he wears "White Lives Matter" on his back, while they carry the sentiment in their hearts.