Jay-Z Has A Right To Keep His Money

My son forwarded me an article this morning that sharply brought into focus the absurdity of jaundiced, rage-filled blacks. The author of the article supported Harry Belafonte’s attack on rapper mogul Jay-Z because, in the author’s opinion (and Belafonte’s, as well), he wasn’t giving back to blacks who believe they are owed a portion of the success of a person who has worked to secure a better life.

As my son said, and I agree, I don’t view Jay-Z as being a beacon of positive behavioral standards, but it is a sad day when he is attacked for determining that providing for his family and investing in their future trumps giving his money away. The author of the article (whom I intentionally an not naming) apparently believes, as does Belafonte, that Jay-Z should give the greater portion of his wealth to every “Keyshaun, Dashonte, and Hakim” (i.e., black versions of Tom, Dick, and Harry), with their hands out. Just back up the Brinks truck and dump the cash on each corner or barber shop where you find blacks hanging out blaming the white man for their not being employable.

Taxpayers vis-a`-vis federal government programs have done that for some 50 years, and still we see disproportionate numbers of blacks without marketable educational skills, without marketable social skills, without marketable linguistic skills, and without marketable employment skills. Tens of billions of dollars have been invested in race-based training programs and social welfare programs, and still blacks lack disproportionately in key societal categories. However, it is the author’s opinion, conjunctive with Belafonte’s, that the ills of blacks would be solved if Jay-Z were to simply start passing out his hard-earned money to everyone in the hood. Give everybody a “piece of that ghetto lottery thang.”

My question is, then what happens? I’ll tell you what would happen. They would take Jay-Z’s money just as they have taken taxpayer money and continue to lead the nation in out-of-wedlock births, abortions, single parent homes, high school and college drop out rates, gang violence, crime, and incarceration. And for those who are now in a fit of apoplexy trying to figure out how many names to call me, go ahead, call me names. But the facts are the facts, and they dispute nothing I’ve just said, the fact that the truth hurts notwithstanding.

The author also revealed another aberrant form of reasoning employed by many blacks. Jay-Z has a fashion line that is now on sale at Barney’s in New York. But the author I reference along with great numbers of clueless blacks are calling for Jay-Z to protest Barney’s by pulling his fashion line from the store. Their reason stems from a woman allegedly being racially-profiled after purchasing an expensive handbag at the high-end retailer.

That’s right. The author and blacks who ascribe to her reasoning believe that if Jay-Z pulls his fashion line from Barney’s that will teach them a lesson. Not to mention that he would be pulling same for something that as of yet there is absolutely no evidence that Barney’s as a store participated in.

That’s tantamount to blacks burning down their own neighborhoods to protest a violent neighborhood thug being shot and/or arrested by police. In other words, the mindset is “We’ll teach you not to arrest one of our violent criminals — we’ll burn our neighborhood down.” So they burn their own homes and automobiles and loot what few neighborhood stores they have. This happened has happened all over the country including in Florida, in Cleveland, Ohio, and in parts of New York, and let us not forget Watts. It’s only after they’ve looted the stores that they realize they’re without a place to put the contraband because they’ve torched their home.

I am in no way a Jay-Z fan. (And I think even less of him after his not working something out with the New York Yankees to keep Robinson Cano in the Bronx.) That said, I think he deserves credit for rising from a life of drugs, guns, and crime, and applying his aptitude to something positive that has resulted in him and his wife becoming music’s first billionaire couple.

If the author and those like her would stop whining and opining — about someone keeping the greater part of what they work hard to earn for themselves and their family — and apply themselves, perhaps they would be able to accomplish more. Blacks must be taught to embrace a spirit of preparedness for success, not the attitude of “you owe us, just give-it-up.”

I don’t see white Americans complaining about Alec Baldwin not giving them his money, or Susan Sarandon not giving them hers. Or for that matter, Warren Buffet not giving them his. If blacks as Americans are to achieve modernity, the process must begin with self-actualization, not someone giving them handouts.