Black Glamour, Black Grief: The Dual Reality We Can’t Ignore

BEP Narrator: 00:00:02

A Black Executive Perspective.

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Now presents need to know with

the award-winning hyphenated Dr.

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Nsenga Burton, Dr.

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Burton.

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What do we need to know?

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Dr. Nsenga Burton:

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Good afternoon and welcome

to Need To Know with Dr.

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Nsenga

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Burton.

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I am she.

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I hope that you're having

a wonderful day today.

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Today I wanna talk to you a

little bit about distractions.

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Um, yesterday there was a wonderful,

wonderful, MET gala, uh, display

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of black cultural, uh, importance.

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Uh, the theme for the MET

Gala was Dandy Dandyism.

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And, um, you know, we have, um.

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Talked about black culture a

lot in our, our communities.

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We've talked about a lot in American

history and, um, in black popular

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culture and a lot of the, uh,

fashions that you actually see

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come out of that culture, right?

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Even if they're not, um, attributed

to that culture, um, they

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have come out of that culture.

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And if you look at, if you

follow fashion, you know that

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Dapper Dan is like the model for.

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Black Dandyism in the United States

and, um, played a significant role in

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lots of different cultural movements,

including the hip hop cultural movement.

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So I say all of that to say last night

was a great display of beauty excellence,

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black excellence, as we like to call it.

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All the wonderful things.

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And while we had an appreciation

for it, many of us did.

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I also sat there and I was very, um.

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Disappointed because while we're looking

at all of this black excellence, we're

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looking at all of this black culture,

this very, very public celebration

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and display of black culture.

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Our institutions are being undermined.

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We are being erased from History books.

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Our books are being banned.

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You know, if you look at the details

of the Reconciliation Act, um, you

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know, they're hitting people, they're

getting rid of Pell Grants, which

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is how a lot of black people go to

school, can't afford to go to school.

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We still can't afford it.

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That's why we carry the most student loan

debt that any other group in the country.

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But that is one of the ways in which we

are able to afford to go to school at

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that moment that we are going to school.

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Um, there, uh.

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Removing funding that has been

available for first generation folk.

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A lot of us are first generation, a

lot of us are second, third, fourth

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generation, but a lot of us are

first generation college students.

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Um, so there's a lot of things in there

and in that reconciliation, uh, bill

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that is going to negatively impact us.

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And we've already had

the other things, right.

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I'm thinking that they have Coleman

Domingo as the face of this,

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um, met gala while they have.

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Defunded, the CDC, they have

defunded, um, research on HIV.

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Um, they have pulled back on sending,

uh, different types of medications, um,

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not only overseas, but also distributing

it throughout our communities here,

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um, which has helped to bring down

the number of HIV related deaths, um,

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over the last, you know, two decades.

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Um, and so when you are looking at this.

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Beautiful.

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It's like really beautiful display of

fashion and culture and history, and you

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are measuring it against what is really

happening to black people in this country.

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And we are being attacked and it feels

like we are the only ones who are.

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Aware of it or care about it.

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Um, because very few people, some

are doing certain things right.

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You know, they'll say something on Twitter

or X or they'll say something publicly or

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they'll be like, oh, go see this movie.

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You know, or something like that.

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But in terms of activism, um,

there's been very little of it.

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Uh, and there's been very little

support and there's been very little

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pushback, you know, very much.

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Uh, a reflection of how

things typically work with us.

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You know, uh, the saying they

love our rhythm, but they

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don't want our blues, right?

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Um, and so it feels weird.

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And I had this conversation on

Facebook with some of my friends,

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um, and, you know, many of us were

on the same page, but some people had

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different perspectives, which we used

to appreciate in the United States,

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but now we all gotta think the same.

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Um, but we.

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One of the things is we

appreciated the beauty, right?

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We appreciated the art, we

appreciated the history, we

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appreciated the fashion, all of that.

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But we also were very much aware and,

and looking at it, juxtaposed against

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what's really happening in terms of,

um, you know, the gutting of the Civil

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Rights Act, the gutting of the Voting

Rights Act, those things, I mean,

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even birthright citizenship, which

we talked about in the last segment,

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um, which is something that African

Americans got out of the 14th Amendment.

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Um, you know, post-slavery, right?

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As a a after we were no longer

enslaved people, although we were

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still enslaved in many ways by

policies and laws and what have you.

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But when we were not physically

enslaved people, um, we had to have

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birthright citizenship because there

were people who still didn't want us

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to be citizens of the country that

we had built with our free labor.

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Um.

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And so my, what I need you to

know, uh, is that there are going

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to be lots of distractions that

are going to undermine what is

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actually happening to black people.

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Um, I'm also a woman.

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I'm looking at what's happening to women.

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Um, and I just like, I

don't even believe this.

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I'm an educator.

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I'm looking at what's happening

in the first generation students,

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many of whom, um, are, um.

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Uh, diverse populations or what have you.

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Diverse socioeconomic populations,

economic populations, poor white people

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need those, uh, pe, Pell Grants as well.

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Um, and so I'm looking at all of

this and, and through a lot of

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lenses and I want people to remember

that you cannot get distracted.

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You have got to put your foot on the

gas and keep it on the gas so you can

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celebrate and appreciate the Met Gala

and all the wonderful people you know.

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Um, I.

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But also know that while they're

celebrating Coleman Domingo, they are

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disenfranchising L-G-B-T-Q populations

and black people, and he represents

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both, uh, and so we can celebrate him,

but we have to make sure that our black

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L-G-B-T-Q people are protected, that

they get the protections that they need,

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they get, um, the support that they

need for what's happening and the issues

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that are impacting their communities.

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Are addressed as well.

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So we can't parse out

who we care about either.

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So that's another reminder

for what we need to know.

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All black people matter, um,

and we need to be working on

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behalf of all black people.

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But in this instance, we cannot get

distracted because we do great things.

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That's who we are.

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We make everything better.

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Like you cannot outdo black people.

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I say that some people get mad at me.

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I don't care.

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I'm like, you can't outdo

us on the internet, fashion,

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anything cultural, historical.

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Advocacy activism.

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Like we can't be outdone,

so, um, you can't outdo us.

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So, um, and that's okay.

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We love, we love that about ourselves

and some people love that about us too.

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Um, but please do know that because

you can't outdo us on that red

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carpet or that mec met gala carpet.

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We are being outdone.

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In ways that really matter, and

that is in policy, that is in

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protection, um, by way of laws.

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Um, and that is in the,

uh, support we need.

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Um, I.

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In our institutions, especially our HBCUs.

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So that's what I need you to know.

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Keep your eye on the prize,

keep your foot on the gas.

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You can appreciate the MET Gala.

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Look at all the pictures.

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Go try to copy them.

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Do whatever you need to do.

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Um, but please make sure that you contact

your Congress person and talk about some

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of the things like the disenfranchisement

of our people that is happening.

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Um, and, and that is happening not

only on the federal level, but also

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on the state level in many states.

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Um, make sure you do that too.

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That's also a celebration of us.

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All right, so tune in next week,

um, to need to know with Dr.

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Nsenga Burton, while I'll come back

and talk to you about something

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else and make sure that you check

out A Black Executive Perspective

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podcast, the award-winning, um, with.

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Tony, um, and Chris, I'm having

a brain fart, but Tony and Chris,

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um, and I'll see you later.

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Bye.

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BEP Narrator: A Black

Executive Perspective.