At the dawn of a new decade, we have arrived at a moment unlike any other in the history of our beautiful nation. We have endured the brutality of slavery, we have survived the pain of Jim Crow and we have overcome segregation to declare our dignity and equal rights. We witnessed and participated in one of the greatest achievements in the history of our country when we elected our first black president, Barack Obama. And here we stand, with great opportunity, this year, this decade, to once and for all, emancipate ourselves from the mental slavery that is limiting our society and our people from moving forward.
To remove these shackles forever, we must take advantage of the opportunities that we have created. To me, during segregation, the black community was strong, because we had black dentists, doctors, drug store owners, grocery store owners, and many other business leaders providing our community with care and services. Integration came and although it gave us much more freedom and liberty, it also presented new challenges that we continue to face. New cultural and entrepreneurial groups came into our communities and took over many of these businesses and destroyed potential economic opportunities. However, now more than ever, the 89% of this country that is not black is thirsting to buy our products and follow our cultural lead. If we ignore this 89%, we will never be able to move forward. We should not limit ourselves to just interact and do business with each other. I don't want to address just 11% of the population. I want to speak to 100% of America. If I had segregated myself and my businesses when I started Def Jam, then I never would have brought Melle Mel, Kurtis Blow and Run-DMC to the Mud Club in the Village, which was a White club. Black people didn't like rap music, they rejected it at first. It was the White press that made us popular...the first time I heard my record on the radio was in Amsterdam on a Dutch station! I say all this, not to criticize you, but to challenge you to recognize your power.
I am saddened by many of my peers who continue to perpetuate the notion that diversity is wrong. When black TV executives compare the multiracial programming I produce to "black" shows on their networks, it reminds me that we are also responsible for limiting ourselves. When online "black" gossip sites make an issue of inter-racial dating it exhibits our own responsibility for not progressing forward. If you only interact with "your group" in university or the work place, you not only do yourself and your company a disservice, you diminish the possibilities of a generation. We have nothing to fear from integration because our culture is the New American Mainstream, the entire world is embracing us. It's our time to be open to the world. At this point in our history as a people, we must uplift each other and encourage each other to change how we see in the world. It is honest integration that the next generation is bringing and they are challenging the old guard to step down and stop their old ways. Similarly, too many mainstream companies today are limited by their inability to honestly integrate some of the most powerful American ideas because of their lack of diversity. To speak to the new America, you have to completely rethink your "diversity" approaches in an integrated, fast-forward way, or risk being overtaken by an unstoppable tide of demographic and cultural change.
So, as we enter this new decade, let's practice loving everybody and everything. Let's be proud of our diversity and make sure it means what the word actually is supposed to mean. Let us not be agents for others to co-opt, let us be the agents of change. It is the wisdom from having experience and inside perspective from the most important cultural phenomenon our country has ever seen that this new generation carries forward. And damn, it is exciting.
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Race baiters make a living by generalisation that all non black people are racist. Anyone who disagrees with a black man is racist.
I for one do not even think about race . I do what MLK asked everyone to do (even black people) judge a man by the depth of his character. Lets not only end the talk of racism, but the talk by race baiters.
And if the MLK you're referring to is Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., he was an advocate for racial justice. Read the whole speech and learn.
But it is a place to start.
When we were growing up we had sports heroes who were actually admirable, astronauts, heck, even the " good cowboy" was around in my day. Who can they admire and look up to today ? The choices are few in the world of celebrity, and unfortunately, some have little to admire in their own families. It's a tough time to be a kid.
Then came the “game changersâ€. Integration meant that those who were financially secure could leave for the suburbs, did so, leaving the economically disadvantage to fend for themselves. The manufacturing base left the United States and suddenly only the educated could make a decent living. Moreover, foreigners, who have connections with companies that actually make products such as dry goods and hair care products, took over the already scarce commerce in these economically depressed areas. We now live in a global economy, and those with global connections, Black, White, and in-between, are the ones who are staying ahead of the game.
The person commenting as MarvaAllen (above) broke it down and made it plain. Assimilation has been deadly, but it has its rewards. The truly daring question the merits and in some cases, abandon ship altogether. I still feel the call of the king to the gathering of celebration and family -- through the middle passage, slavery, colonialism, The Black Codes, Jim Crow, the KKK, love legislation (aka -- limping towards humanity), COINTELPRO, and all of the other travails that has been and that is the downside of this story of a specific people. I make no excuses for speaking out on the peculiar circumstance of being brown in America in 2010. Yes, much progress is there to be noted and duplicated. Far too many have suffered and died for me to take now for granted. However, something is wrong in Africa and something is wrong in the African American community and it remains a problem of identity lost due to amnesia from being brutally hit over the head.
In fact, nothing made me prouder to be an American than the day we swore in our first black president and seeing all those people-all ages all colors all faiths, gathered together in the capital to celebrate. And when you see under-educated white people terrified that we are "Losing our country" -they are dealing with the primal fear that the racial paradigm has indeed shifted. America is a gloriously multiracial nation. Our culture and our arts and our music and our everything is all the richer for it.
But to say 2010 is the year Black's begin to market to the entire American audience simply isn't true.
It negates Black artists, Black celebrities, and Black athletes who have marketed to all America since the Harlem Renaissance. It wasn't just Black people who listened to Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith.
Many are open to inter-racial dating but what are the stats on other races of men approaching, dating and marrying black women vs that of black men and other races. Some how these stats leave the black female left short on both sides if the black man is dating and marrying other races and others races of men are not in the embracing game. Just a thought
We had a lot more racial and spiritual harmony back in the 60's when we stopped the Vietnam war and made civil rights progress. Since then, things became more fragmented and the unity was lost.
We need to regain that unity again, over common causes, and fight for justice together.
The product is much greater than the sum of it's parts. There is much more force and effectiveness as a untied group. May our energies be combined to force the change we need, in this new decade.
Or is the more of the same type of embracing, where the music is song by blacks, the dance is created by blacks, the style is created and fashion by blacks but the performers are of another race and the style is model and labeled by someone other then color. I agree with you we can and should embrace other cultures and personally I don't think many black americans have had a problem in doing so its the return factor that a problem lies. With the embracing of black america will we be force to change
Norman Borlaug
http://reason.com/blog/2009/09/13/norman-borlaug-the-man-who-sav
roflmao
Maybe you need to get the message.
The racial struggle in the U.S. is rooted in economic equality and opportunity. Slavery was about free labor. The civil rights movement was about racial equality and economic opportunity. You know, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. We understand freedom and economics go together that's why we continue the struggle. We also understand the diversity of our "segregated" communities that include people from all over the world.
As Americans, we get to segregate, integrate, be diverse or not, and engage in that pursuit of happiness with whom ever we want. And Mr. Simmons you get to keep poluting our culture with music and comedy filled with obscene, profane, and negative language, images, and values. Or change and promote positive values and images.