A grenade went off. At the center of that blast was Barneys, the upscale New York retail store that was caught racially profiling a pair of young African-Americans.
The grenade blast created shrapnel and many of us are dealing with that collateral damage.
The case against Barneys is pretty simple. Profiling and racism are wrong. Simple and plain.
However, on the fringes there are topics and subject matter that’s not so black and white.
I started a mini Facebook firestorm when I updated my status with the following:
“I hate that Barneys is racist, but I hate more that these broke kids are spending their last dimes on $300 belts and $2500 handbags.”
Boy, did I start something.
Initially, a lot of people agreed, but slowly and surely we realized that this case — a product of blatant racism — highlighted a number of issues inside the African-American community.
Most black people come from varying degrees of “nothing” and when we gather up a bit of money, we often walk into a store like Barney’s singing “started from the bottom, now we here.” Some felt my comments weren’t much different than the security at Barneys, charging that I was also profiling these young people. But, I had to fight back and stay resolute in my views, keeping the broader plight at the forefront.
Straight up, I said, “I get what you are saying, but I am talking about wealth building and nation building. Racism is going to be here forever as far as I am concerned and the actions at the store were deplorable. That said…I’m talking a bigger conversation and issue that’s especially problematic to African-Americans.”
That issue is a lack of financial literacy.
Certainly, in America, people have the right to buy whatever they can gather up their coins to buy. According to reports, the young man that bought the $350 belt had to save up for the purchase. The other female, who paid $2,500 for the handbag, took her tax returns and applied it to the pricey bag. But, in the broader context, those monies could be applied to actual wealth building.
Some of the shrapnel managed to rip into your friendly neighborhood rappers as well. Literally nobody was safe.
Jay Z caught the brunt of the blast, as the hip-hop magistrate has a deal with Barneys that actually kicks back money to his philanthropic organization. But, if you dug past the top-level drivel, the commentary got more substantial. Jay Z, a multimillionaire, has packaged and sold youth a lifestyle they seek to attain. And most urban celebrities do this in some form or fashion, until it’s seemingly putting down the very fans that worship them.
The people at the lower rungs in American culture strive so much to have bits and pieces of opulence they actually, ultimately miss out on actual opulence. But, excess is as American as apple pie.
Meanwhile, there is an actual millionaire parking his Honda Accord in front of his mansion in Jersey.
However, can we blame hip-hop? No.
We can blame ourselves.
Why?
African-Americans have fallen for the okey doke again.
Somewhere, on high, far far away, “The Man” is sipping on some Scotch and laughing. Despite the Great Depression, we’re still consumed with materialism and consumerism instead of exploring how to create wealth that will outlive us.
Those young people were likely taught whoever they know about money from some elder of the hip-hop generation. They likely Instagrammed or tweeted the purchase with the caption “There’s levels to this sh*t” or something. OK, I’m mostly kidding, but its absolutely not out of the question.
The real question is: how better do we support our own and those that DO respect our dollar? We complain about Barneys but won’t dare by anything from African-American-owned companies or even boutique stores that make fly gear.
Furthermore, we have to talk about our esteem and why we still define ourselves by the frivolous material goods that we can muster. I’ve been accused of these things myself, as I drive a nice car and appreciate the finer things in life. I checked a few people and yet, I still ran to Amazon at the urging of one of the commentators to buy The Millionaire Next Door. I can and will do better.
I had to end my Facebook rant with the following video:
I felt every single word of this video.
Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur is a father, son and the co-founder of AllHipHop.com. He’s a cultural critic, pundit and trailblazer that has been featured on National Public Radio (NPR), BET, TVOne, VH1, The E! Channel, MTV, The O’Reilly Factor, USA Today, The New York Times, New York’s Hot 97 FM and like a zillion other outlets.