Oprah WinfreyOprah Winfrey, the “Queen of All Media,” is not known for publicly responding to criticism of any kind. Over her many years in the bright klieg lights of television, movies, books, etc., ad infinitum, she has consciously elected to let her work speak for itself. But a recent Twitter-er seems to have hit a nerve with the media maven when he accused the Big O of not paying – literally $paying$ -- enough attention to the plight of black America. The tweet and her response may be found here: http://www.kulturekritic.com/2012/07/new s/oprah-goes-in-on-twitter-follower-for- questioning-her-commitment-to-black-amer ica/
It is not known who @awalkdatalk is. But he has raised a question many black people in Chicago have wondered about for years. A lot of the questioning has centered around the composition of both Oprah’s personal and professional staff members at Harpo Studios on the edge of the black ghetto known as Chicago’s West Side. They are and always have been overwhelmingly white and female. Again, this fabulous studio sits like a shining, luxurious oasis surrounded by hordes of unemployed, desperately impoverished black people, who would give their eye teeth at the chance to work for the Queen in any capacity.
The Queen has also come under recent scrutiny for alleged "cultural insensitivity" to the whole nation of India. She did a "special" there which critics say is fraught with all of the old stereotypes about Indian people and their country.
The same criticism was made about another black Chicago icon – Michael JordanMichael Jordan – throughout his fantastic career with the Chicago Bulls as perhaps the greatest basketball player of all time. He did build (or had built in his name and of course with his blessing) a “boys and girls” center, and on the West Side. But his main extra-basketball endeavors, besides being a pitchman for Nike and dozens of other corporations, was to build “Michael Jordan Restaurants” – either in downtown Chicago or in the suburbs. He never seemed to realize what such a fine dining establishment on the black South or West Sides of Chicago could have done, would have done, for the economies of both areas.
In Oprah’s defense (not that she needs one), the Tweet exchange between her and her critic, gave her a chance to “school” those of us who really have no concept of what philanthropy really is about. Myself included. I’ve never been, and don’t expect to be, in a position to distribute such largesse as Oprah speaks of any time soon.
As is also well known (and criticized), she has also set up an entire school system in South Africa. When asked once why she did not establish a similar system in America, she said quite openly that she went to Africa because she knew how much her largesse would be appreciated, implying, of course, that black kids in America would not appreciate such a grand gesture.
And so she deserves kudos, compliments and congratulations for putting hundreds of black men through college – Morehouse College. By the way, that’s Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, alma mater.
But, in this society, the question always seems to be "What have you done for me lately?"
RESOURCES:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/30 /oprah-issues-sharp-response_n_1717686.h tml
http://globalgrind.com/news/oprah-power- cant-help-every-black-american-blog
