Wearing a gold suit Elvis might have worn, Reginald Jones walked on stage and told the crowd that not only should we give rich people more credit, but also that there is an underlining need in white America to make black people feel second-rate.
He said the news media were primarily to blame for the negative depiction of blacks.
About 100 students, faculty and staff gathered in Gates Hall, in the Newman Center for Performing Arts, last Thursday to hear Jones’ speech, “Be Nice to Rich People.” His speech was broadcasted on C-SPAN and was sponsored by DU’s Bridges to the Future project.
A well-known public speaker, Jones is also a television and radio talk show host with conservative opinions. He is also a singer and hip-hop entrepreneur. As a young man living in South Bronx, Jones worked with rap artist Grand Master Flash. Jones has a one-word message of empowerment for black people, which is “capitalism.”
“That’s the word that I want to hear from now on,” he said. “Talk to me about free enterprise. Racism did not destroy our neighborhoods. Government did it.”
Jones said that the majority of blacks grow up to feel like victims. “The heroes in black history, such as Elijah McCoy, are never in the media. You never see black entrepreneurs or corporate executives in the news,” he said.
He said Americans are oblivious to economically and socially successful African Americans, such as McCoy, because many Americans don’t view their accomplishments as newsworthy.
Jones said hip-hop itself is indeed capitalism. He said it may be difficult to think of rappers such as P. Diddy, who came from an underprivileged neighborhood, as a selfish capitalist. But he pointed out that without the free-trade market/capitalism, there would be no other way for people who were born poor to make it big.
As for being nice to rich people, Jones thinks that a lot of so-called “regular” people misjudge them.
“Why should we be nice to rich people? Because they always get the special treatment and sit in first class on airplanes?” Jones asked.
“[Rich people] come up with inventions that make our lives easier,” he continued.
“Think of all the lives they’ve improved. Cell phones, for example, are no longer an accessory; they’re a necessity. But are we thanking the people at Motorola? No.”
He said technology, such as cell phones, can help the war on terrorism as well.
“If we were to import technology instead of weapons, think of what a difference we could make,” he said.
Jones ended his speech talking about success.
He thinks that success is “life’s lottery.”
“Success is really about to whom you are born, where you are born and what color you are. That right off the bat tells you how people will vary in life,” he said.
