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Oprah, Russell, Kanye, Where Were You?

By Ural Garrett
Black College Wire

As the "Jena Six" rally came and went, a particular article came to my attention on MTV.com, in which rapper/actor Mos Def said the following: "Shame on everybody who's not here." Def fumed, "I'm f---in' mad. I'm disappointed to always be coming to these things and it's only one or two people [from the industry here]. If you ain't gonna use your voice, then be quiet. I'm disappointed and ashamed."

Ural Garrett

Well, in a way I couldn't have agreed with him more.

It's pathetic to know how outspoken Oprah Winfrey is about the African school she built and how rap is detrimental for the youth and yet hasn't been vocal about the "Jena Six." This billionaire can't lend a few dollars to help her own people or won't mention the situation on her TV show. Funny, eh?

What's really pathetic is to know that we have so many conscious rappers like Common, whose Afro-centric rhymes led many to believe that he actually cares for his people, but ironically he hasn't spoken on the issue or apparently hasn't donated to the "Jena Six" Defense Fund.

It angers me to know that Russell Simmons is the first one to defend rap when people say it's bad for the youth, and attack President Bush when things seems right but wouldn't stand up or help six young men who are being heavily discriminated against.

When Kanye West uttered the infamous line, "George Bush doesn't care about black people," I, for a while, thought that maybe popular artists weren't overly spoiled and selfish pre-Madonnas but real people like me. Maybe he is materialistic but caring. Maybe he was trying to get more people to buy his album, which was released around the same time. Whatever your opinion may be, what's true was that Kanye didn't money up for the six, either.

And these are the public leaders of Black America? So much for helping your brother when in need.

I could say that 50 doesn't care about Blacks, but that's obvious due to the fact that he has said in numerous interviews that he is not only a Bush supporter, but a fan of the Republican Party and that if he didn't have a felony that he would in fact vote for him if he had the chance. Oh yeah, did I mention that he felt the Katrina catastrophe was an act of God? So with "Fiddy," I really didn't expect him to come out of pocket to help pay for their [the Jena 6] bonds.

With the estimated 20,000 people who went to Jena, you'd think some rappers and highly paid Blacks would lend a hand; but maybe they're too caught up in their Ferraris and ten million dollar homes, or maybe pleasing the white executives who own them (yes, even Oprah is owned by white executives, but that's for later). With all these things, I still feel conflicted; the twenty-year-old male in me says, "So what? I'll go with the rest of society," but the black conscious male in me says, "Forget all them because at the end of the day, they do nothing for me nor my people."

This situation shows that if something happens involving black injustice due to white allegiance, some blacks won't be around. What I'm saying is, don't count on Oprah to do a special on your mother that may have been tortured by six crazy white people.

Sure, you have people like David Banner and T.I. lending support, but it's still a small number compared to the thousands of other multi-million dollar artists who could have ended this situation in a day.

As an African American journalist, my responsibility is to make sure my people are represented well in the media. When it comes to the wealthy or highly influential blacks of the world, it is their responsibility to be as vocal as possible about social issues as well.

Say what you will about Rev. Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson being media hounds, at least if a blacks gets discriminated against in Alaska, they'll be there.

Articles in the "Voices" section represent the opinions of the individual writers and do not necessarily reflect the views of Black College Wire.

Ural Garrett, a student at Southern University, writes for the Southern Digest. To comment, please e-mail .

Posted Oct. 22, 2007

Letter: How Do You Know Why They Weren't There?

Your article, "Oprah, Russell, Kanye, Where Were You?" is so typical of our people today. Why is it that just because you are a "celebrity" that you have to speak out "publicly" about something. How do you or Mos Def know what others schedules are, their motivations, their connections, their influence. Just because you are in attendance at some function and someone else isn't doesn't mean you or them are better or worse for not being there. It was your choice to attend just like it was their not to. We as a people need to get off that "high horse" of having to constantly "proving" ourselves to others standards.....namely our own people.

You "call out" Oprah, Kanye West, Common and Russell Simmons in your article while holding up Al Sharpton & Jesse Jackson.

Who crowned these noted figures (or anyone) as "leaders of Black America?" Have you discovered if the above-mentioned made some anonymous donation to the Jena I fund? Do you know if the above-mentioned had a scheduling conflict and sent an"emissary" in their place? Do you know all the facts about Jena 6? Have you been to Jena and interviewed the accused, the community, the family? Have you done any investigative work at all or just simply sat at your computer and generated this article and made assumptions and misspelled the word prima donna and Jesse Jackson's name? Al Sharpton only finds the camera lens when it serves his financial interest. No one has listened to Jesse since he produced a baby out of wedlock after denouncing others for doing the same thing.

I am a well-educated Black Man and it's quite obvious that you are as well. However, I would venture to say that as a student, you don't have enough life experience to "call out anyone". To further that belief your following statement is so immature ......

"As an African American journalist, my responsibility is to make sure my people are represented well in the media. When it comes to the wealthy or highly influential blacks of the world, it is their responsibility to be as vocal as possible about social issues as well."

Your responsibility as a journalist may be to make sure your people are well represented, but that responsibility shouldn't be at the expense of others, white or black. That is a disservice to yourself and your people. Don't fall for the "banana-n-the-tailpipe" and hinder your culture for a by-line.

Isaac T. Clark III
Rocklin, Calif.