“Ok Ladies, Now Let’s Get Reparations.”
Can the Beehive, the Navy and the rest of Black Hollywood’s fandom secure $150,000,000,000 in Reparations?
Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and the better half of black Hollywood just came out for reparations. (“boy stop”!) I am not kidding! I am talking about rep-a-ra-tions, as in 150 billion dollars to create what Alicia calls “a radical transformation in racial justice and equality, to heal the wounds of a long national history of systemic racism.” Reparations!
I don’t mean to be coy. I’m black. I am no stranger to the idea. But, I am much more used to it being talked about by people like this:
Or made fun of like this:
Reparations is supposed to be some crazy idea. Even Nkechi Taifa, cofounder of N’COBRA, The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, said, “People who talk about reparations are considered left lunatics.” See? Even the reparations advocates are used to no one taking them seriously.
So how did we get here, to a point where the biggest stars are advocating for this solution? Well, as it turns out, contrary to popular belief, Hollywood isn’t an isolated bubble, and just as the last five years have radicalized average Americans, it has done the same to our stars.
Keys’ #23ways video and Moonshot for Racial Justice in America is a direct response to the recent police shootings of black people. Like many Americans, Keys felt the need to do something. But instead of hosting another town hall focused on the myopic issue of police brutality, Alicia and her celebrities friends decided to swing for the fences. Their petition reads:
“Today, our moonshot is finally dealing with our history and persisting issues of racial injustice. As we enter the homestretch of Obama’s presidency, now is the time to come to terms with the inequities our fellow Americans have suffered throughout our history and make it right…
“The way to ameliorate the costs of making things right are directly equal to the cost of the Apollo Moon Landing. $150 billion directed at poor communities over the next 10 years, will provide access to equal education, healthcare, quality housing, training and jobs, nutrition and an overhaul of the Criminal Justice System.”
This initiative is a cogent response to the call for a holistic view of racism. Racial inequality is not just police violence, but rather a complex trap engulfing every aspect of society. And addressing the situation requires a solution just as vast. Which brings us to… that’s right, reparations.
Now, this isn’t the first quest for a racial “moonshot”. Before Keys and Yonce’ there was Ta-Nehisi. Two years ago, he wrote The Case for Reparations — a 16,000-word scroll that untangles the roots of slavery, jim crow, separate but equal, redlining, and more. When asked to sum it up, he said this:
“There’s no way to have a two hundred and fifty plus year history of extracting resources from a community, and think your going to fix the problems within that community without putting at least some of that back. That’s the case for reparations.”
Coates’s article broke records. It won awards. It galvanized the public. And it placed Ta-Nehisi smackdab in the middle of America’s debate on race. But later, when asked what role he wanted President Obama and other leaders to play in advocating for reparations, Ta-Nehisi was hesitant, saying, “That’s not how movements are built… movements are built from the ground up.”
Well, Mr. Coates, you better watch out. Because Alicia Keys, Beyoncé and all their friends are on the top, they have way more Twitter followers than Obama, and they are telling them to get in formation. I can’t call it, but depending on how this goes, we just might all be black Bill Gates’ in the making.
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