For years, a lot of us have been talking about the disparities in homeownership rates, the lack of Latino representation in the boardrooms and C-suites of America’s largest corporations, the wealth and income gaps, etc. These are real issues that frankly have not seen much progress in the last few decades. On the heels of the Black Lives Matter movement, these disparities are starting to work their way into the national dialogue. A number of major corporations have made commitments to invest in communities of color and aggressively diversify their organizations from the top down. For those of us who have spent years advocating for these sorts of things, we need to get our acts together. Specifically, we need to get organized with what we want and we need to get our community to rally around those things. Sol Trujillo and I have been working on something for L’ATTITUDE that is audacious, and yet achievable. It would be an absolute shame to waste this unique moment of awareness in our country by not being clear and consistent about the things we want as a community. Now is not the time to be shy. Now is not the time to be polite, and now is not the time to be bickering about things that don’t matter. This is our time to “rise up” as a united force and make a quantum leap forward for ourselves and our children. Don’t miss L’ATTITUDE 2020!
The usual solutions will not solve the current housing affordability crisis. Any solution that does not begin and end with a sustainable plan to radically increase housing supply is just noise. The barriers to increasing housing supply are complex and require the crucial cooperation of both public and private sectors, and more education.
“Boomerang” was a different kind of film. It was a movie about friendship, loyalty, and romance set in NYC at a medium-sized Black-led company that sold beauty products. Boomerang had an all-black cast and a plot that had nothing to do with being Black. While that was unheard of at the time, Murphy was such a big star that it didn’t seem like a big deal.
Terms like “great, genius,” and “world-class” are overused, perhaps because they mean something different to everyone. Greatness is subjective. Some might say you must be great just to be employed in the film business or to play professional sports, but I don’t think Will Smith or LeBron James think that way. The concept of being great also requires context. You could be a great high school athlete but only an average college player.