Pharrell “New Black” Williams: "Do you want the job because you're Black or because you're the best?"

[Left.A1]

Now?

He ain't never flipped the script.

2014

Why Pharrell Williams believes in 'The New Black'

The multimillionaire superstar told Oprah Winfrey that being successful is not about skin colour, but a state of mind. Some say he just got lucky ...

www.theguardian.com

 

[ReasonableMatic]

I can’t believe we’re in 2025 and nikkas really think that Black ppl should just “work harder / be better” and that’ll be the solution to the SYSTEMIC racism in the job market.

Y’all REALLY think non-white ppl for that matter can rational with WHITE SUPREMACY, just by working harder and bein better than white counterparts.

Out here repeating white supremacy’s false narratives of impartiality.
Have some COTDAMN shame

 

[Rekkapryde]

Boffum. That's the least these mother fukking companies can do

the end

 

[RamsayBolton]

I didn't hear him say don't worry about DEI. I heard since its not here anymore just focus on being the best you can and let the chips fall where they may

He said "If [DEI] come back in style, cool, but in the meantime I'm going to bank on being the best" As if Black people were expecting DEI to make up for effort and skill and just result in them automatically getting jobs.

I know people are diverse and crazy so literally any mindset you can think of someone unironically will have, but I have never heard of a Black person feeling like DEI would hand them a job so they don't have to worry about hard work and skill

 

[King Harlem]

I can’t believe we’re in 2025 and nikkas really think that Black ppl should just “work harder / be better” and that’ll be the solution to the SYSTEMIC racism in the job market.

Y’all REALLY think non-white ppl for that matter can rational with WHITE SUPREMACY, just by working harder and bein better than white counterparts.

Out here repeating white supremacy’s false narratives of impartiality.
Have some COTDAMN shame

Then how are we supposed to get ahead? How do we create better lives for ourselves and our families?

 

[Rekkapryde]

If black people historically had gotten jobs by being the best, instead of being denied jobs, we wouldn't be having this conversation today. We know that systemically that didnt happen, so let's not be obtuse.

 

[Prodyson]

Exceptional, the best, the best to their abilities, isn’t that all the same shyt


Do you negros actually not strive to do shyt to the best of your abilities or something?


And again, his solution is to basically out work the mediocrity that gets handouts. GOT IT. So what’s yours?

I’m mad that this is something you nikkas like to get mad and argue about

Disagree then, idgaf. You nikkas are not just disagreeing though. You’re speaking like your opinion of his solution is a fact.

So again.. what do you nikkas suggest? “Being the best isn’t always enough” so what is then bruh, since you cats disagree. Do you actually think that people who are good at their jobs, better than most, just stay unemployed all their lives? What is your solution to what he is saying then bruh?

You’re making up a bunch of stuff that nobody is actually saying.

The solution is try to be the best… AND. Being the best isn’t the end all be all, unfortunately. You try to be the best AND network in different circles. You try to be the best AND be innovative. You try to be the best AND take advantage of any leg up you might have, even through nepotism. You try to be the best AND be relentless in your pursuit. You try to be the best AND be resilient enough to push forward even when you’re rejected after knowing you were really the best before, too. DEI exists to try to allow disadvantaged people to focus more on being the best and less on the other stuff.

We’re saying his message is incomplete and you think we’re saying his message is incorrect or irrelevant. You’re almost applying the same logic that racist white people use. “If you work hard you’re guaranteed to be successful.” First, it depends on what successful means to you. Second…Well, it greatly increases the possibility, but there are no guarantees of anything, even more so if you’re black. That’s doesn’t mean don’t work hard, it just means you need to be prepared and know what to expect while you’re working hard.

 

[Scustin Bieburr]

Moron has spent too much time around white people.

Even if a company is carving out a certain percentage of jobs for non whites, this smooth-brain can't understand that within that tiny pool of competition, the company will pick the absolute best of the candidates who themselves are already having to have worked twice as hard as their white counterparts.

 

[desjardins]

My thing is why is this conversation always levied against black people when we probably benefit off nepotism and bias the least
No one is going to Jewish people and saying "do you want to leverage your connections and insular community or prove that you are the best". No people call that shyt "networking"
We can all see how latinos and asians move in terms of hiring their own and the U.S government literally had to pass laws because cacs kept it in house so bad
Address these other mofos, not the community that has the least and is discriminated against the most

 

[ReasonableMatic]

Pharrell Williams, the Billion-Dollar DEI Hire Who Hates DEI

as if mondays weren’t bad enough

louispisano.substack.com

 

[africngiant]

he isn’t factoring the blantant discrimination that’s posed against black professionals in companies’ hiring practices already.

a white male felon and a college educated black man with criminal no record have about the same callback rates in their prospective fields.

you’re not hard working yourself out of this buddy.

 

[Big Boss]

Hmmmm

 

[MisterMajesty]

Ok bruh


I’m just saying, telling black folks to strive to be the best they can be, and better than the opposition, is not a bad message in my eyes..

Even if the game is rigged, we still have found ways to be the best or successful in different avenues and at different times. And those people did it by proving it. Now, work on bringing awareness to it and trying to un-rig it


Not worth arguing over to me though, so

Borderline patronising considering that when we put our mind to it, whether USA, UK or whatever... we tend to be the best., Which leaves a whole host of other questions

 

[Maximus Rex]

Meritocracy is a Myth created by the elite to convince regular folks they got there by hard work and 'you' can too

 

[CopiousX]

There is some

Spoiler: large assortment of professions....

Black chicken farmer out there, and some Mom and Pop chicken shack, and some Black trucker with a refrigerated truck, a black person in logistics and supply chain management, and some Black marketing exec, and some commercial real estate specialist..

There are probably some Black owned cotton farms. There is probably a missing texting mill, but there are black seamstresses, warehousing, distribution... Gullah people owning selvedge denim.

There's literally no reason in my mind that Black folks don't have furniture or air conditioner factories.

High quality training for CNAs and nurses (which probably exists) but branching out to physical goods.

Black people are in every industry, every endeavor. I mean T Pain out there crafting Country Music hits that speak to the souls of White people.

And all of that expertise can come together.

This is all obvious to me, but I'd probably need some one that studied at a HBCU to tell me what I'm missing.

Is it all individual self interest? Is every Black person so selfish that they would rather make short term money rather than build something?

Not selfishness. Risk aversion.

We are naturally risk averse people. Both at the lower level of working class and at the top level of wealthy. Its a cultural trait of black people, due to the unique structural challenges and precarious nature of our lives as black people in America.

The black wealthy prefer much safer assets than venture capital and private equity (like would be needed for that industrial venture you described). I've met so many older wealthy black people that dont even like the market, and prefer money markets, rentals, and boring low yield savings accounts. Alternatively , the working class live precarious lives that need liquidity for life emergencies, so they could not keep money inside a sustained investment with a lockout period like your proposed venture. Jay Morrison found this out the hard way with his reit. As for sweat equity, You will be pulling teeth if your goal is to convince those professional and working class to leave their existing and guaranteed employment to join your gamble.


Now don't get me wrong , this is all still doable. But you would need an investor willing to capitalize all the cumulative risk of the people in your plan. By this I mean you would have to have an investor willing to pay that Lengthy list of job types you listed a salary on day one. You can totally use the expertise of all those black people, but they would need to be compensated competitively and fairly. You cant racially guilt trip people with families into risking their livelihoods for a speculative bussiness venture.

Spoiler: a sidenote

And yes I can already guess that you're going to say that this venture isn't speculative or Gamble. Or that this industrial venture's inherent necessity or benefit to the black community will make it succeed

But let me remind you that even if you have good intentions, business is not gaurunteed.
I just look at Marcus garvey's failed Black Star line or even the Harlem print shop of elder Amos Wilson

On the funding side, you would need a very good cultural argument for black retirees , software engineers, docs , etc to leave their garunteed and relatively safe returns for risk. There is no good financial argument for them to do so because you cannot in good conscience give them a guarantee of high enough returns to warrant the risk. So you'd have to give them another motivation. Alternatively you could eat the risk yourself by offering them collateral in exchange for them funding the project.