Black Celebrities

Some time ago I watched Sean Combs talk about his new luxury line of the highest quality clothing for people with discriminating taste. I watched as Mr. Combs was escorted down the runway with all the male models he employed to show off his latest line of clothing. He talked about the custom tailoring necessary to assure the best quality fit possible. Chances are good Mr. Combs clothing won’t be sold through the neighborhood Target chain. I know it can take a lot of work to start a fashion line. But with name recognition of Sean Jean people will stand in line to buy the products for his name alone. Move over Gucci. The free publicity from the video news release is sure to pique demand for his products.

Last year, right after the movie Blood Diamond was released, Russel Simmons was doing the talk show circuits trying to convince the American public with serious disposable income that buying diamonds was a good thing for the poor struggling people of Africa. By buying diamonds people will be funding all kinds of wonderful programs that will benefit the disadvantaged. Mr. Simmons tried to make the impression that his brand new jewelry franchise was supposed to appear as a totally philanthropic enterprise. But the diamonds of Africa have done nothing for the African people but brought them plenty of pain and suffering. Mr. Simmons wanted to convince people that all of Africa’s bad experiences with diamonds is the past. Now, the same people that sold the diamonds in the past to fuel wars and generate billions of dollars of profit for DeBeers’ virtual monopoly now see the errors in their ways and are ready to build schools and fund other civic projects. So now we’re supposed to just conveniently forget about history and think only about the positive things diamonds do.

Some high profile black celebrities who have managed to make their names recognizable in nearly every home across America will sell their name to the highest bidder in order to promote whatever product they can get paid to promote. Maybelline, Coke Cola, McDonalds, Nike, Buick, Pepsi, Burger King, Right Guard, and Cover Girl are just a few that come to mind at this spur of the moment. None of these promotions have anything to do with the welfare of the black community, or even the dominant community for that matter. The only welfare these endorsements have in mind is the endorser’s pockets. Our sports heroes, silver screen heroes, use their celebrity to sell us on the idea of eating unhealthy foods, drinking chemically laden beverages, going into debt to buy the latest and most technically advanced automobile with Xenon gas powered headlights, the most fashionable clothing, the coolest music, or anything else the corporate culture is willing to pay somebody to convince us that we need.

When I look for black celebrities that I feel truly represent a socially conscious black mindset I think of people like Shaquille O’Neil. I applauded Mr. O’Neil when he came out with a low priced line of sneakers to be sold through the K-Mart chain. With so many basketball players taking the lucrative route of having their names associated with shoes that were more likely to resemble Bill Cosby’s five hundred dollar sneakers, Shaq put his name on an affordable line of shoes. Unfortunately Shaq turned around and did his icy hot patch schtick.  Duane “The Rock” Johnson donated a million dollars to his Alma matter. I applaud Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf (born Chris Wayne Jackson) the NBA basketball player who took his money and developed low income housing back in his hometown of Gulfport, Mississippi while other players were busy spending their earnings building luxury mansions with private runways.

While it’s always nice to hear about celebrities that reach back and help a handful of others, the comedian that helps to shape raw funny talent, the singer that helps young singers obtain recognition, what’s truly phenomenal is the black celebrity that reaches back to help black people. Black people who are not afraid to use their celebrity to help institutions that make the assistance of black families their foremost concern are truly heroes and are truly rare.

Not many high profile black people use their celebrity to publicly promote concepts or ideas rooted in positive black culture. Not many black people use their celebrity to help without some form of financial compensation or some compulsion like a court order. Black people who make public service announcements as a condition of some type of court settlement don’t qualify as having a truly genuine concern. Black people writing books like How to Raise Black Children for Dummies but then stand in front of white people, absolve them of their culpability in the subjugation of the black community while simultaneously ripping the poor black community apart for the sake of cheap laughs need not apply. Black celebrities who use their status and their wealth to make more wealth for themselves are a credit to the American dream. But black celebrities who realize that they have a connection to the black community are the real heroes in my book.