Post: #1

Looking at the dr dre/apple deal a rather interesting observation came to me recently. I can't name a single super wealthy (I would define as around $500 mil and up) black American who did not make his fortune in media or entertainment. Not one. What's even more interesting is outside of america (Africa) there are black banking billionaires/millionaires, industrialists etc but none in America, and no history of it at all.

Are blacks (a bit like Jews) relegated and concentrated to certain "legacy" industries in America? It would explain why music and sports seem over represented with blacks.

Any insights?

Post: #2

Historically in America entertainment has been the only area where blacks have been able to make lots of money. Until the 60's there were only so many white collar fields a black person could enter - K12 education, theology, medicine, accounting, and law but these were limited to black only areas. Black teachers taught black classes, black pastors preached at black churches, black doctors saw only black patients, etc... Only in music could blacks really aspire to reach a white audience until the 50's when they could enter pro sports as well.

It's only been in the past few decades that blacks have been really able to enter the money making areas of white collar work in a big way (less time if you consider how many were originally delegated as the token minority in various organizations).

It takes time to build that type of wealth. It will happen though.

Post: #3

I can give you the answer, but this isn't really the forum for this.
Your question makes me suspect you are trolling, comparing Jews to "Blacks" is a strange comparison.

Post: #4

(05-14-2014 09:03 PM)OkStudies Wrote:  Looking at the dr dre/apple deal a rather interesting observation came to me recently. I can't name a single super wealthy (I would define as around $500 mil and up) black American who did not make his fortune in media or entertainment. Not one. What's even more interesting is outside of america (Africa) there are black banking billionaires/millionaires, industrialists etc but none in America, and no history of it at all.

Are blacks (a bit like Jews) relegated and concentrated to certain "legacy" industries in America? It would explain why music and sports seem over represented with blacks.

Any insights?

As Rudeboy said this is troll city...ughhh

Post: #5

It's not "trolling" at all (btw I am black) it's really an honest question that I'm really interested in knowing the answer to. And seeing as we discussed dr dre becoming a billionaire I think it's topical.

And yes the comparison to Jews is accurate. Jews were restricted by law or social convention to certain professions and began to excel and dominate them. They also dominate the entertainment industry. Jews even dominated basketball and boxing at one time, now blacks dominate those two sports.

Post: #6

I have a race-related question.

Back when I was in college, one of my dormmates was a gorgeous black girl named Zina. We'd have lunch together and hang. We'd jokingly flirt. Sometimes it wasn't so joking. When I was elected to editor of the school paper I got a long, long hug and a kiss that far outweighed the accomplishment.

One night when we hanging out, the thin-framed Zina started pulling at her bra strap and complaining about how her bras hurt her and pinched her disproportionately MASSIVE, beautifully-shaped breasts. Then she started going on about how hard it was for her to have those gigantic breasts and why. This went on for around 15 minutes and was not prompted by me.

And so my question is: why did I just sit there saying things like "Well, you better buy some better bras, hyuk hyuk" instead of using this obvious opening to make some sort of move? Was I dense? Wimpy? All of the above?

The answer? I think I was intimidated by the racial divide. But it probably wasn't really there as much as I thought.

Only when we've fully addressed questions like these in detail on this board will we be qualified to answer ones about why "blacks are in media." And probably not even then. The personal is political after all, as someone once said.

Let's try to remember why we're here.

Post: #7

The rich blacks you've heard of. TV stars/etertainers tend to get more press. I know a black guy who runs a pretty good sized VC fund. Not a billionaire, but he makes/controls serious dough and keeps a low profile. There are also guys out there like Franklin Raines (who ran the mortgage GSEs during the height of the bubble), and the CEO of McDonalds (Donald Thompson), who most people have never heard of, but are/were truly in the upper echelon of earners.

Post: #8

7 day ban for starting race thread