Why Athletes and Entertainers Like Jay-Z Can’t Solve Our Problems

By Terrence Amen

Nationwide — The big controversy about Jay Z and the NFL is a perfect example of why we can’t rely on our athletes and entertainers to solve the major problems in our community. Athletes and entertainers are just that, athletes and entertainers. They’ve spent their productive lives perfecting their skills, in order to be the best at what they do. They’re not as conscious as we think. We expect them to come together and pool their resources together, in order to create opportunities for our community.

Unfortunately they don’t have a mindset like that. For one thing, they get their money from people outside our community, which causes them to have a self-preservation mindset. They will only go so far in trying to support our community. This is what makes what Kaepernick did so significant. How many of the Black players supported him on the field. You can only do so much when you’re afraid of losing your job or endorsements. This is what I mean by not having a Black conscious.

The NFL is 70% Black and higher than that, if you count the top positions in the league. Yet how many players supported Kap on the field? If only they knew their value, by working together, they could have really made a difference for our community. But they are a microcosm of our community. As a community, unfortunately we do the same thing, which is why our community isn’t achieving on the level it should be. We don’t know our value either, but everybody else does. We’re also not as conscious as we think we are.

So if we don’t support our community in a significant way, how do we expect our athletes and entertainers to do what we aren’t willing to do? The problem is we don’t support the conscious Black organizations and businesses that can make a difference in our community. This should be the focus for our athletes and entertainers and our community as a whole. Until we start supporting organizations and businesses that are serious about solving the major problems in our community, that have a simple but well thought out live active plan, we will continue to have them.

There are some organizations out there who are trying to solve the major problems in our community, but aren’t getting the support from our athletes, entertainers, or our community. The solution is not relying on a few people who are a success financially, the solution is for us as a community to work with and support the people who are really trying to help our community become the best it can be. It would be great if these organizations and businesses received the support from our athletes and entertainers, which would give them a great start, but we can only go so far doing it this way.

But if the community got behind them as well, this is where major progress will be made, because we’d be able create our own institutions, which would allow more people to participate in solving the major problems in our community. So until we start supporting the conscious Black organizations and businesses, we can’t expect our athletes and entertainers to. We really don’t need them to support the community, but we as a community have no choice but to support the ones who are trying to solve the major problems in our community. Guess what, when we as a community start doing this, so will they.

For more information on how we can get ourselves out of the cycle of problems, watch the short video called “The Real Solution”.

Terrance Amen is founder and CEO of 3Ufirst FPC, created to end the major problems in the African American community, by bringing some of the trillion dollars we spend every year, outside our community, back to our community, in order to fund our for and nonprofits. Based on his book, “Black Unity: The Total Solution to Financial Independence and Happiness”. For more information, go to www.3ufirst.com.

 

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