White mediocrity will always outperform Black Excellence in a white power structure.
Jay-Z didn't say anything most of us haven't already said and nothing we didn't already know. He just said it on a large platform. But, spoiler alert:
They don't care when it is said on a small platform. And they don't care when it is said on a large platform, either.
White people/power structures do not treat Black People with any form of respect unless they are forced to.
• They had to be forced to stop enslavement.
• They had to be forced to stop Jim Crow.
• They had to be forced to end segregation.
• They had to be forced to stop red lining.
• They had to be forced to let us vote.
• They had to be forced to, in some states, stop discriminating against our hair in the workplace.
• They had to be forced to...
Well, you get the point.
This here? Not new. And it isn't changing, either. Not until we either come up with a way to force them to change, OR... we stop coveting their bullshit and start rewarding ourselves by removing ourselves from their accessibility and creating and big-upping our own awards and award shows.
