DON'T FORGET WHERE YOU CAME FROM

This past May, rap mogul (for lack of a better word) Dr. Dre teamed with Jimmy Iovine to donate $70 million dollars to create a new degree program at USC. It combines the humanities with graphic arts, business, music, and technology to create an outlet for talented young people to more easily gain gainful employment after college. The added benefit for Dr. Dre and Iovine (the mastermind of Interscope Records) is to create a pipeline of creative individuals that can later become successful in the music industry. On its face, Dre and Iovine are doing a wonderful service by giving back to the very city where Interscope Records is located. While not a state school, USC is often considered the flagship school for the city of Los Angeles. Programs such as this are a progressive step to help create jobs in a very volatile economy. Instead of Dr. Dre being applauded for his generosity however (half of the $70 million came directly from Dre), he has been chastised for not spending that money more wisely. In particular, some believe he should have donated that money to a historically black college (HBCU). Dr. Boyce Watkins, writing for yourblackworld.net takes particular umbrage with Dre's donating the money to USC instead of a much more needy HBCU. It's not so much that Watkins is trying to tell Dre how he should spend his money, it is that he sees no benefit in donating to a powerful university such as USC when it is not reflective of who Dre represents as a successful black man.

Watkins is not alone in his criticism of Dr. Dre for his generous donation. Dr. Walter Kimbrough of Dillard University also questioned why the multi-million dollar rapper/producer didn't deem it necessary to donate to an HBCU. Kimbrough and Watkins believe that Dre's donation would have had a far greater impact not only at an HBCU, but in the Black community as well. To them, donating to USC is just another drop in their already overflowing bucket. "USC's endowment is over $3.5 billion, which gives this school more money than every single HBCU in America combined. Even more stunning is that the school's endowment isn't even in the top 20 in the nation" (Watkins para 7). Overall, the argument isn't who didn't need the money as much as who did need the money. Watkins and Kimbrough assert that Dre's significant influence and wealth could have been just the boost needed that would have changed the course not only of HBCU'S, but help to send that message that we as Black people need to follow in his footsteps as well.

Most Black people, even if you only reach modest success, are expected to give back to their community. This is particularly true of those who reach a level of affluence since they made it out of their impoverished, destitute, often disenfranchised situations to reach the pinnacle of American society. I think this is the true premise behind Dr. Watkins and Dr. Kimbrough's argument against Dr. Dre's donating to USC instead of an HBCU. They are not condemning Dre for giving back to his hometown university, they're questioning how that money could have been better spent to assists the very disenfranchised communities he comes from. This is particularly true in the wake of a racially-charged incident on at a campus party just days before Dre made his donation. On May 5 of this year, 80 police officers responded to noise complaints by coming in riot gear. The party by all accounts was peaceful, yet several students were arrested. Students protested what they deemed racial profiling since the White party across the street was not interrupted at all. Watkins and Kimbrough feel this highlights the racial inequalities faced by Blacks on many campuses similar to USC. With a low Black student enrollment (5% according to USC's website), the message is that Dre should donate this money to his people, the people that supported his music in the beginning, the people he looks like! I respect the premise of that argument, but using the racial incident to make it is flawed to me. This police racial profiling happens throughout America given our former status as Black people under slavery and Jim Crow. The coincidences of the profiling of the Black party and Dre making his donation are mutually exclusive.

In closing, I cannot tell any person what to do with their money. I also cannot judge the feelings of people affiliated with HBCU's like Dr. Kimbrough as I did not attend one. I have heard varying stories about them both good and bad. Given our history of exclusion, I empathize with the notion that we need to look out for our own and take care of home first before we can successfully mesh with society on an equal plane. But why pressure someone into doing that? We need to allow people to be who they are and make their own decisions. Otherwise we are guilty of the exact stereotyping we encounter daily. Just because Dr. Dre did not donate to an HBCU does not mean someone else cannot. What ties to a historically black college does Dre have? By chastising Dre, we fuel the racist rhetoric that Blacks are looking for a handout. Why do we put so much pressure on each other to remember where we come from? The very basis of "when keeping it real goes wrong" is this notion of remembering where you came from. How can we forget? Society reminds us of this everyday. How about we remember where we came from, but focus more on where we are and where we want to go instead!!

Questions for you: Does Dr. Dre have an obligation to give back to the black community? Should we move to better fund the HBCU's since schools such as USC already have the funding? Tell me what you guys think. Thanks for reading!!

http://www.yourblackworld.net/2013/05/black-news/dillard-president-asks-dr-dre-why-he-gave-35-million-to-usc-and-not-a-black-college/

http://www.yourblackworld.net/2013/05/black-news/as-dr-dre-gives-his-money-to-usc-black-students-protest-being-handcuffed-arrested-at-a-party/