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Blue Ivy Carter won her first Grammy on March 14, 2021, for her appearance in a music video, "Brown Skin Girl," with her mother, Beyoncé. At nine years old, she is the second youngest person to ever win a Grammy. Some people might think that's ridiculous. Why should a nine-year-old get music’s highest honor just because she has famous parents?

On a work call with my team, one of my white colleagues blurted out, "She's just a baby with a Grammy!" I replied, "Sure. But she's got a Grammy, and no one can ever take that away from her."

Here's the thing. When Beyoncé and Jay-Z place their kid in a music video, it's not just about music. It's not just about how much they love their kid. And it's not just about them.

When Black people like me watch Blue Ivy win, it's a win for all of us. That trophy isn't just a gilded gramophone, but the ultimate example of passing down generational wealth — something many Black families have historically been locked out of doing for generations.

Black people were one of the first commodities imported to America. As a product, three fifths of a human being, we could not own because we were owned. The residual effects of this barrier to ownership show up in every facet of finance, from low home ownership rates to high student loan debt in the Black community. This lack of ownership contributes to the ever-growing racial wealth gap in America.

The average white family has 10 times the wealth of the typical Black family. Dorothy Brown, former political appointee during the George H. W. Bush administration, talks about this in depth in her latest book, The Whiteness of Wealth. Brown asserts, “Whiteness itself, and the legacy of advantages that comes with it, is the magnet that attracts wealth.” She describes white wealth as a snowball effect over time. A tuition payment by dad, a job at the family business, a small inheritance from grandma, and suddenly that person is in the position to do the same for their children. For Black children, that snowball rarely ever gets rolling.

Far too often, Black and brown children, by nature of their socioeconomic backgrounds, live life with a drastically lower ceiling than their white peers. Teachers have lower expectations of them. If they are living in a poverty stricken area, they don’t have many examples of people who’ve “made it.” Also, they live in a country where they constantly see images of people that look like them in a negative light. These factors lead to self-depreciation and an overall sense of helplessness.

So when we see Blue Ivy Carter awarded for performance in the music video "Brown Skinned Girl," we know Blue Ivy is reaping the benefits of parents who understand the importance of generational wealth. When we see Asahd Khaled, who at four months old was named executive producer on his father DJ Khaled’s album, Grateful, we shouldn’t think it's ridiculous. Same for Destiny Jones, the daughter of rapper Nas, who at age seven was credited on his album, Stillmatic. We should understand the long-term idea of investing in our next generations.

And sure, I know we're talking about kids of celebrities here. And not just any celebrities — the richest and most famous celebrities of all. These kids will probably be set for life either way, with or without a credit on a song or a Grammy for a music video. But for the rest of us, it makes an impression.

For a group of people who historically have not had trust funds, businesses or homes to pass down to their children, Blue Ivy’s feature on “Brown Skin Girl” represents ownership and paints a new possibility for the future.

Children of color like Blue Ivy, Ashad Khalid and Destiny Jones will grow up not only with the promise of financial security, but also something even more valuable — the belief that anything they want can be theirs.

2021-Grammy-Awards

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