“You can’t help the poor if you’re one of them so I got rich and gave back to me that’s a win-win.” — Jay-Z

I was in love with Jay-Z’s music growing up. Every song brought out the emotions I needed to survive: the pride and ego, the vulnerability and rawness I felt every day. Hov’s words inspired my life for years, to the point of naming my daughter after his lyrics. When Jay-Z became a “billionaire” and the news hit social media, Black Twitter collectively celebrated his achievement. But I began to question “why are we all so happy?” Of course, for a Black person, especially a survivor of the Crack Epidemic, to become a billionaire sounds like the ultimate American dream story. Jay-Z is the definition of rags to riches, a good ol’ pull yourself up by the bootstraps story. However, this genocide we face isn’t about the exception, it’s about the rule. This is the collective problem we face. THE BLACK ELITE WON’T SAVE US.

American exceptionalism, rugged individualism, (yes the same ideals professed by colonizers for hundreds of years) where as long as your circle can escape the realities that the vast majority of Black people face in this country everything is manageable. From Oprah to Jay-Z, Tyler Perry to the Obamas, LeBron to Beyonce (yes even Yonce ya’ll), Black Elites have shown that Black excellence is more of a brand than a belief. This lack of solidarity from the Black Elite has been on full display during the 2020 uprising; from the NBA bubble, to the Democratic National Convention, and of course TI and Killer Mike pandering on TV. The Black Elite are out in full force tap dancing around the issues our people face in hopes of creating “change” and “reform” that the folks in the streets are telling them don’t work. This lack of concern for the people should be alarming and raise questions for those who have begun to listen to these so-called leaders.

NBA

Kyrie Irving made it known in June that he was opposed to the NBA players returning to play in the midst of the uprisings as a show of solidarity for the people in the streets. Kyrie was ostracized, ridiculed and even had his mental well-being questioned. The majority of the players felt that they could “have a bigger impact by playing and having a platform,” but all this did was exactly what Kyrie had said it would do, become a distraction.

As soon as the NBA players agreed to return to the court, the conversations began to be shifted and co-opted. Players were only allowed to wear statements on their jerseys that would need to be pre-approved by the NBA. In the midst of all of their social justice messages on their jerseys and shirts, Jacob Blake was shot in the back seven times in Kenosha, Wisconsin and the world watched a teenage white supremacist live out his Call of Duty fantasy by murdering two protesters. The NBA players decided to call for action and there seemed to be actual change on the horizon after the players all opted to not play. The timing seemed perfect, the players would hold a strike in order to bring about actual change. But again the Black Elite won’t save us and they proved that once again. The NBA players, led by LeBron, called Mr. Black Elite himself, Barack Obama, who advised the players against a strike. The moment now squandered, players returned with no tangible change outside of using arenas for voting stations. But the reality to this performative action is that people have to go to their correct voting station to actually vote. How many people are going to show up at their local arena to vote only to be turned away?

The argument will be made that it’s not the NBA players job to fix the world, but they have a unique leverage that was given up for a social justice initiative that will look a lot like the NFL’s Inspire Change Program which has done little in the way of impacting our most vulnerable outside of a couple catchy videos during commercial break. Professional sports, specifically football and basketball are controlled almost exclusively through Black labor. So let me ask how much weight do the Lakers and Clippers players have collectively in LA? Well imagine if the top two teams in the western conference did not play until the Los Angeles Police Department was defunded or if the players met with those in the field doing the work to create a solid list of demands? If there was a professional athlete strike where players did not play until there was a divestment from law enforcement and an investment in community, how quickly would things happen? Each NBA team on average is worth roughly $2 billion, you don’t think that kind of business holds weight in the halls of the legislature? What if these pro-athletes decided to support the people’s movements and budgets? How would city, county and state officials respond if athletes unified with the communities they came from? Instead Bron opted to call his buddy Barack who said the only strike he approves of are drone strikes.

Obama’s

The Obama’s are another great example of why the Black Elite won’t save us. It seems like every week the former President gets on social media and points out how it is so critical to vote because our country and more importantly our lives, depends on it. Yet when he was at the helm for eight years, Obama utilized many of these same policies and tactics as Donald Trump (who is a white supremacist). During Obama’s presidency, the Black Elite had no problem with kids in cages then, and there was no mention of how the environment should be protected. As president, Obama openly mocked the people dying in Flint due to the dangerously contaminated water, and he utilized federal troops to occupy and terrorize BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) communities and protesters. He bragged about how America became the largest oil producer in the world. I am sorry Mr. Obama, you don’t get to escape the fact that you continued policies of white supremacy for eight years to now ask why someone hasn’t done anything, you didn’t save us either.

Celebrities

“The rulers of this country have always considered their property more important than our lives.” -Assata Shakur

In America we love the idea of celebrities, we get star-struck and so we tend to follow those who have attained that celebrity status and ascribe a level of intelligence and influence to them. This is dangerous. The Black Elite have shown us that they are in the business of protecting the ruling (white) class. Look no further than the Wakandan Committee in Atlanta. Killer Mike and TI got in front of the camera and told the world that Atlanta was a leader and the uprisings must stop, no less than a week later Rashawn Brooks was murdered on his daughter’s birthday. The Black Elite/celebrities are concerned with protecting their investments, their property, their comfortability. This is why the Black Elite won’t save us. They have property to protect.

The myth of black exceptionalism

Kwame Ture wrote “this process of co-optation and a subsequent widening of the gap between the Black Elites and the masses is common under colonial rule. There has developed in this country an entire class of ‘captive leaders’ in the Black communities. These are Black people with certain technical and administrative skills who could provide useful leadership roles in the Black communities but do not because they have become beholden to the white power structure.” The worst part about the Black Elite is that this mentality has permeated among the people as well.

Ture goes on, “It is crystal clear that most of these people have accommodated themselves to the racist system. They have capitulated to colonial subjugation in exchange for the security of a few dollars and dubious status. They are effectively lost to the struggle for an improved black position which would fundamentally challenge that racist system.” I see this in some of the Black teachers I work with, they feel like they have “made it.” They frown on our students they have deemed “ghetto,” and they have ascribed to white supremacist ideology. Same with Black “professionals” across industries.

We know these anti-Black ideologies still sit in the minds of so many in our own community, especially by the Black Elite. We as Black folks have become so enamored with these Black elite that we find ways to justify our own oppression; from police brutality to mass incarceration, to the educational and financial wealth gap. I had a conversation with a Black man recently who told me that we could have good capitalists and I laughed, but this is the dream that has been sold to our people. That if you work hard enough, that we can buy freedom. This simply isn’t true. And even when we do get someone who can “succeed” and “achieve” in this racist system, representation isn’t enough.

Representation will never equal liberation. “In the long run, the people are our only appeal. The only ones who can free us are ourselves.”1 In order to rid ourselves of the chains of oppression we must all acknowledge the fight and be willing to sacrifice. Sacrifice money, fame, celebrity, status, we must be willing to sacrifice for the survival of our people. Sacrifice is one of the hardest things for us as humans to do, especially once we have gained status or power in relation to society. How much are these Black Elites willing to sacrifice? It appears nothing, not their jobs, not their money, not their celebrity status, in fact some even make money off of the pain of the Black community.

“Those who would assume the responsibility of representing Black people in this country must be able to throw off the notion that they can effectively do so and still maintain a maximum amount of security. Jobs will have to be sacrificed, positions of prestige and status given up, favors forfeited. It may well be — and we think it is — that leadership and security are basically incompatible. When one forcefully challenges the racist system, one cannot, at the same time, expect that system to reward him or even treat him comfortably. Political leadership which pacifies and stifles its voice and then rationalizes this on grounds of gaining “something for my people” is, at bottom, gaining only meaningless token rewards that an affluent society is perfectly willing to give.”2

The Black elite won’t save us, they have proved it time and time again. The Black Elite have assimilated into the white supremacist power structure and we aren’t getting them back. The Black Elite won’t save us, but the people will!

In the words of Assata Shakur, “Are you ready to sacrifice to end world hunger. To sacrifice to end colonialism. To end neo-colonialism. To end racism. To end sexism.”

1: Shakur, A. (2014). Assata an autobiography. London: Zed Books.

2: Ture, K., & Hamilton, C. V. (1992). Black power: The politics of liberation in America. New York: Vintage Books.