“Black excellence has as much to do with the supremacy of whiteness as it has to do with the excellence of Blackness.” Michael Harriot talks about the few Black billionaires in America to dismantle the argument that if one Black person is successful then oppression no longer exists.
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[00:00:00] You are now listening to theGrio’s Black Podcast Network. Black Culture Amplified.
Michael Harriot [00:00:05] I was walking down the street today and there’s this dude who’s always complaining about how hungry he is. And I saw him and I was just about to say, What’s up? And then I saw that he was eating a hamburger. So congratulations, America. We solve hunger, right? Because, like, that one guy who’s hungry is eating. So, like, this hunger is over, right? No, it’s not. Well, I guess I better welcome you to theGrio Daily. The only podcast that’ll tell you why Black excellence is a strawman argument. I bet, like if you watch or listen or talk to people about some of the subjects that we talk about on this podcast, then you’ve probably heard the argument that I’m about to explain to you. About how racism is over because Oprah’s rich or like, if America was so racist, how can Barack Obama become president. Or here’s one. Like, what about Jay-Z and Beyonce, if we oppress everybody, how can they be rich? Or here’s my favorite one. You have money. And you have everything you need. So why are you complaining about racism?
Michael Harriot [00:01:38] And at the heart of that argument is this idea of Black excellence. Like, if one person overcomes the odds. You know, white people like to call them diehards. He overcame the odds. I don’t even know what like what I think the odds is racism. Is racism an odd? I guess so. Like, I didn’t think about it like that, but I just like white supremacy. Okay, I understand it now. White supremacy is kind of odd when you think about it. Like like to identify somebody who like don’t season their food and can’t clap on beat as supreme. That would be kind of odd. So I guess like racism or whiteness is is an odd but, you know, if somebody overcomes the odds or you know they they like to explain that or use that person as an example of how all Black people can achieve if they just, you know, just put his like put their nose to the grindstone is ah, pull themselves so by bootstraps, um, use some elbow. Was this always a body part? Um, you know, if they do that hard work, focus on education then you can achieve to look at blah, blah, blah. But anybody, anybody Black. Who has again overcome the odds and becomes an example of why racism doesn’t exist anymore.
Michael Harriot [00:03:16] And I never understand this argument. Right. Like America used to be at war and now we’re not at war. So apparently war doesn’t exist anymore. War. Like one time for real. And this is true, right? I saw a bird that can swim. So apparently birds are fish now. Right. Or if a bird can’t fly, does it mean all the birds stop flying? Birds don’t fly anymore. The stupidity of their argument, though, again, is based on the idea that one person who slipped through a white people system of oppression becomes the example of how there is no more oppression, right? Like if you didn’t drown in the pool then apparently all human beings can float now. Right. So to dismantle this argument. First of all, you have to understand, like white people know like 17 successful Black people. Right? And not only do they know very few, but the fact that they can literally name like all of the Black billionaires. It’s proof that there is economic oppression in America, right? Like. Like it’s on white man right now somewhere who is richer than the richest Black man in America and like, you don’t even know his name, but you know, all of the Black billionaires names. It’s only like Robert F. Smith, Oprah, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Jay-Z, Rihanna. I’m probably forgetting somebody. P Diddy, Kanye. I think he was for we started trippin on Adidas. And I think that’s about it, right? Like, that’s it. You know, there are no like, Black billionaires who just was born to a parent of billionaires or who was born into like the Walton family and just inherited their wealth. Every Black person had to work and come up with something that had almost never existed before. Like, Jay-Z is like, you can’t even name the top five rappers without naming Jay-Z. He is literally the best person who ever rapped in the world’s most popular music genre, right? And he’s like barely a billionaire. Right. Oprah is the probably the most successful television personality in the history of television. Definitely. Probably in talk TV or like non scripted TV. And she’s like, basically barely a billionaire. There’s like some white person right now who invented like the semicolon sitting on $200 million or $200 billion right. Like Elon Musk has never invented anything. He never he’s he’s not an engineer and he’s like the richest man in the world. Right. And then next to him is Jeff Bezos, who, like, sells stuff that other people make in a store that really is not a store or Internet that he didn’t create.
Michael Harriot [00:06:50] Like, no shade to Amazon or Jeff Bezos but he ain’t a thousand times more than the smartest Black person in the world. He’s just a thousand times richer. He’s not a thousand times more creative. He’s not a thousand times the businessman that like Robert F. Smith is. He’s just a lot richer. He and Robert F. Smith isn’t proof that any Black person can make it in a world where there are so few Robert F. Smiths. The smartest Black man in America right now probably ain’t no billionaire. So these people, even though we celebrate Black excellence, it is not proof that America ain’t still doing all the stuff that it has always done throughout its history. What it proves. Is that by using these specific examples over and over again and because these examples are so few and far between, that white people can name them at the drop of a hat, that oppression, racism still exists. Like just because like 17 Black people escaped the claws of this machine that America created doesn’t mean that the machine doesn’t exist.
Michael Harriot [00:08:28] That’s why we celebrate Black excellence, because, man, it is great to see Black people achieve something. But that doesn’t mean that we can emulate whatever they did and do the same thing. See, that’s the crazy part about this country, right? Like to become successful when you’re not burdened with navigating race only requires that you not mess up. You can snort cocaine and you still can achieve. You know, white people use drugs at a high rate. Because the police arrest Black people for drugs at three times the rate. So using drugs is not an obstacle for whiteness. Like getting a great education. All they got to do is navigate the better schools and the better education system. And once they finish that, they can get into the colleges that looked at those schools and that better education system to pluck from it, the people who they want to achieve. But we ain’t in those schools. So we’ve got to navigate a less funded, a lower funded school. A school system that they don’t even look at. And if we can get to the top of the pile that they have thrown away, then maybe when all you got to do is just swim along with the current. If you’re not Black. And that’s why those people are not examples for us. Black excellence has as much to do with the supremacy of whiteness as it has to do with the excellence of Blackness. You got to have a little bit of luck that have some excellence. You’ve got to have some smarts and intelligence and hard work. But that ain’t all you need. You need some luck if you’re Black. You need to not get swept away by the opposing current. You need to tell your friends about this podcast. You need to download that real app. You need to subscribe on every platform you can. And you also need to sit down for a couple more settings. And let me tell you, I sing of the day. And today’s thing is Black excellence is redundant because all Black people are excellent. We’ll see you next time on theGrio Daily. If you like what you heard, please give us a five star review. Download theGrio app. Subscribe to the show and to share it with everyone you know. Please email all questions, suggestions and compliments to podcast at theGrio.com.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:11:47] I’m political scientist, author and professor Dr. Christina Greer, and I’m host of The Blackest Questions on theGrio’s Black Podcast Network. This person invented ranch dressing around 1950. Who are they?
Marc Lamont Hill [00:12:00] I have no idea.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:12:01] This all began as an exclusive Black history trivia party at my home in Harlem with family and friends. And they got so popular it seemed only right to share the fun with our Grio listeners. Each week we invite a familiar face on the podcast to play. What was the name of the person who was an enslaved chief cook for George Washington and later ran away to freedom? In 1868, this university was the first in the country to open a medical school that welcomed medical students of all races, genders and social classes. What university was it?
Roy Wood, Jr [00:12:35] This is why I like doing stuff with you, because I leave educated. I was not taught this in Alabama Public Schools.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:12:41] Question three. You ready?
Eboni K. Williams [00:12:42] Yes. I want to redeem myself.
Amanda Seales [00:12:44] How do we go from Kwanzaa to like these obscure.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:12:49] Diaspora, darling?
Amanda Seales [00:12:50] This is like the New York Times crossword from a monday to a Saturday. Right or wrong, because all we care about is the journey and having some fun while we do it.
Kalen Allen [00:12:59] I’m excited. And also a little nervous.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:13:01] Oh. No need to be nervous. And as I tell all of my guests, this is an opportunity for us to educate ourselves because Black history is American history. So we still have some fun. Listen, some people get zero out to five. Some people get five out of five. It doesn’t matter. We’re just going be on a little intellectual journey together.
Eboni K. Williams [00:13:18] Latoya Cantrell.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:13:20] That’s right. Mayor Latoya Cantrell.
Michael Twitty [00:13:22] Hercules Posey.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:13:23] Hmm. Born in 1754 and he was a member of the Mount Vernon slave community, widely admired for his culinary skills.
Kalen Allen [00:13:30] I’m going to guess AfroPunk.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:13:33] Close. It’s Afro Nation.
Kalen Allen [00:13:37] I’ve never heard of that.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:13:37] According to my research, and Samuel Wilson, a.k.a. Falcon.
Jason Johnson [00:13:42] Wrong. Wrong, I am disputing this.
Latosha Borwn [00:13:47] Very, very, very rare and 99.9999 sure that it is Representative John Lewis, who is also from the state of Alabama that let you know. Christina, we got some goodness come out of Alabama.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:13:58] There is something in the water in Alabama. And you are absolutely correct.
Diallo Riddle [00:14:01] The harder they come.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:14:03] Close.
Diallo Riddle [00:14:04] Oh, wait, the harder they fall?
Dr. Christina Greer [00:14:06] That’s right. I’m one of those people that just changes one word.
Roy Wood, Jr [00:14:11] I just don’t know nothing today. I’m gonna pour myself a little water while you tell me the answer.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:14:16] The answer is Seneca Village, which began in 1825 with the purchase of land by a trustee of the A.M.E. Zion Church.
Roy Wood, Jr [00:14:22] You know why games like this make me nervous? I don’t know if I know enough Black. Do I know enough? How Black am I? Oh, my Lord. They. They. We going to find out in public.
Dr. Christina Greer [00:14:31] So give us a follow. Subscribe and join us on the Blackest Questions.
