Black Gen Z Has A Problem.
On Meaning Making For A New Cohort Of Creators.
Gen Z has an entrepreneurial spirit. And we are currently in the midst of a Renaissance consisting of Black youth, who have now realized due to the example set for our generation by names like Kanye West (allow it), Pharrell Williams, and Virgil Abloh that we too can be creators.
However, similarly to the ‘08 election, this has not ended systemic racism in America, nor beyond. And it comes as no surprise, especially post-Covid, that Black and other people of color are continuing to experience financial and material hardship, even as it seems our ideological minds are expanding throughout the realm of possibility.
So we all cannot continue to play in Dreamland.
On the one hand, this is me being crude. Humans are made to create and should take any chance under the oppressive thumb of Capitalism to fulfill whatever fantasies they wish for their work to carry.
On the other hand, as decent human beings, it is irresponsible to not exercise solidarity and signal values that will provoke self-aware, critical, and empathetic attitudes. There is even the option of expressing these in one’s work itself or just embodying them in one’s persona or company structures.
Commonly though, calls for the upholding of Black values in ones’ work is met with (perhaps rightfully) one of Black exhaustion: along the lines of why Black creators/doers/thinkers must always uphold the moral standard whilst white counterparts are free to live in the aforementioned Dreamland.
And to be fair, the spirit of fatigue can be given space; however, who would we be to continue criticizing white creators for their inauthentic, bare minimum, and/or unmemorable moments if we aspire to be as carefree as them?
We then choose the bliss of ignorance instead of the impact of our output here. And on a planet crying out for help, with power and wealth imbalances near and far, maybe we should try to be more conscious than we have been in our new ventures.