The concept of master or expert is traditionally respected within one’s community. A master or expert being – one who has exhibited advanced genius, knowledge, and facility in a particular skill. This often translates into power, notoriety, and wealth. The act of respectability for the master or expert transcends amongst many cultures and nations. In African cultures, the griots of a specific tribe are honored for their expert oratory skills as well as historical wisdom that then translate into monetary compensation and lavish gifts from tribal members. In Asian communities, the master yogi is praised due to their expertise in enlightenment; so much so that even travelers from across the globe who may not be a part of Buddhist culture hold a civility and reverence for the master yogi. These expat yogis then go on to profit in their home countries by sharing the advanced teachings they honed from the master yogi after of course paying a fee for the shared wisdom. In western culture, masters of profession in a plethora of fields including politics are all held with high regard and esteem and too receive great monetary support for their specialized skills. Jim Messina – former president Obama’s campaign manager for the 2012 presidential election earned a whopping $172, 345 for his services and political expertise; Stephanie Cutter – earned close to $140,000 for her role as deputy campaign manager for the same election, and Jennifer O’Malley Dillon – earned similar to Cutter sharing the same role. The payouts for republican political strategists and experts from that election cycle were even greater. Even those who may not hold the title of “expert” within their specific practice still earn salaries that are much steeper than everyday community members due to their “mastered” accomplishments such as: doctoral education. In light of this common cultural virtue of giving economic value to a specific skill perfected by a master, not all communities benefit from this general expectation.

In American society, members of Black American communities are often times excluded from expert recognition in their particular field and when they are recognized as a “master” or “expert” they often do not receive the monetary endowment (beyond standard compensation) that coincides with their expertise. At the same time, the expected principle compensation for other communities within American society is distributed in copious amounts to individuals and/or entities acknowledged as experts or masters. In fact, quite often; mediocre contributors from outside of the Black community receive greater financial compensation than Black contributors within the same field even if the Black community member has shown greater skill and achievement than their counterparts from other demographics. Throughout all fields of profession in America you will find a common culture amongst institutions: the Black-American DOS are usually paid the least and recognized last, no matter the amount of influence, seniority, and expertise they have in a specific industry. How can this be? American institutions have historically encouraged the economic disparity and unequal distribution of wealth specifically towards Black American DOS initially enacted during slavery (which had no compensation). This practice has maintained even post slavery and civil rights and has matriculated into modern American institutions with the greatest practice of this being the refusal of the United States government to repatriate the descendants of slaves and enforce policy to grant these descendants with equal compensation opportunities as they have done for other communities who were oppressed within and/or outside of America (Jewish, Japanese, Native American, etc.). The Black-American DOS community has endured historical economic inequality at a much longer and greater rate than all other communities of America without repatriation.

The release of Donna Brazile’s (one of the country’s top political strategist) book “Hacks: The Inside Story”, validates that even post-Obama the practice of unequal economic endowment towards Black Americans no matter their level of expertise still thrives. As mentioned in the latter, it is common that expert political influencers are paid top dollar for their services. Considering this, Brazile’s admission in her book of non-compensation for her role as interim chairperson of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) (after former chairperson Debbie Wasserman Schulz resigned in wake of the infamous wiki leaks email dump) maybe more blasphemous than all other revelations and whistle-blowing corruption she shares. Revelations as such challenges the current perspective of the reality of prosperity for the Black American community. The Black American community has been sold a narrative of delusion when it comes to financial gain and equity; if even, our top experts are under-compensated and de-valued no matter their education level, expertise, or skill in a particular field. The current agenda of Black American politics needs to re-adjust to this reality and deter from the inclusion illusion script. The “so-called” leaders of the Black political movement are now confessing that they too experience the truthful reality of economic disparity and inequity despite their success – the same realities and shortcomings that the average Black American was told they experienced because of their lack of ambition, hard-work, and education. Donna Brazile is just one of many; imagine how many more Black Americans including those in fields outside of politics that keep their mouths closed about this disparity while at the same time pretending they have achieved the American dream as fruitfully as their White counterparts.

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Writing since December 2017 · 1 story contributed