精东影业

Someone is going to read this and think I wrote it because I hate football. Another person will read this piece and think I have a deeply ingrained dislike for Black men and rap music. Others will see this article, skim a few lines, and believe I want only awful things for Black women entrepreneurs. But, truthfully, I want us to think more critically about what our liberation looks like and how we intend to get there.

Since the new presidential administration has entered the White House, there have been a number of , including the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1965 and the resulting equal protection clauses that have been in effect for decades. These policies鈥攎any of which have been gutted via executive order鈥攚ere created to ensure women, low-income folks, disabled people, members of racial minority groups, and other historically disprivileged groups in the United States have equal access to the workforce.

These cuts have also resulted in companies such as聽 , , and rolling back their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives that were designed to make employment more accessible for all people, regardless of their race, ethnicity, creed, or color. The problem is that many of these same companies have been actively recruiting members from marginalized racial, gender, and class groups for decades under the premise that they actually valued diversity.聽

Target, a company that has embraced DEI wholesale for the past decade, and Black-owned brands when they rolled back their DEI initiatives in January. This disappointing decision has led to calls for mass boycotts of the big box retailer, which has lost , faces plummeting stock values, and is being . Recently, Pastor Jamal Bryant, a prominent voice within Black religious communities, called on his congregation to for the 40 days of Lent to 鈥渄ivest from Target because they have turned their back鈥� on Black communities. 

Despite Target鈥檚 abandonment of the DEI initiatives that ingratiated the brand to Black consumers, their recent decisions are a stark contrast to what many Black communities have come to admire them for. These efforts also brought many Black business owners to Target鈥檚 shelves. Though the company seems to have lured Black consumers and brands to their stores under what now seems like false pretenses, a prominent Black influencer, content creator, and, now, mega-brand has surprised her supporters by backing the brand. 

On Jan. 27, popular vegan influencer Tabitha Brown, whose products are carried in Target stores all over the country, posted a asking her followers not to boycott the retailer because 鈥渋t has been very hard for Black-owned businesses to hit shelves.鈥� Emphasizing how 鈥渉eartbreaking鈥� it is for her to feel 鈥渦nsupported鈥� by retailers such as Target, Walmart, and Amazon, Brown shared that she still sells her products with these companies: 鈥淚 do business all over, just like many other people.鈥澛�

She then encouraged her followers to reconsider boycotting Target because of the potential long-term impact on Black-owned businesses. 鈥淲hat happens to the businesses that have worked so hard to get to where they are?鈥� Brown asked her followers. 鈥淭o get there, we unfortunately have to play the game.鈥�

But how long should we have to watch a few extremely wealthy Black folks 鈥減lay the game鈥� before we acknowledge that they might be playing us, too?

鈥淒on鈥檛 allow foolishness to take us into separation and weed us out,鈥� she implored. The video from those who felt Brown鈥檚 message centered the needs of Black business owners over larger Black communities and their concerns about representation. Others suggested that negative responses were just rooted in a hatred for Brown.

But, others, myself included, that it was quite possible Brown鈥檚 followers were simply disappointed because they were looking in the wrong place for liberation. No shade to Tabitha Brown. She seems like a lovely human being. But is she a comrade, abolitionist, or freedom fighter? Absolutely not.聽

The messaging Brown provides here suggests that the only way for Black people to 鈥渨in鈥� in this society is by playing into capitalistic, anti-Black, exploitative labor and production models that have never served us. No other event exemplifies this more than American football and the phenomenon of Black artists giving 鈥渞evolutionary鈥� Super Bowl performances. 

On Feb. 9, rapper Kendrick Lamar joined this 鈥渢radition鈥� when he performed in Super Bowl history. In addition to being the most unrivaled lyricist alive, Lamar presented viewers with imagery of wave-cap-wearing Black men symbolically dancing in the form of an American flag, gaggles of Black folks pouring from a hoopty on stage, and even dressed as Uncle Sam. And Lamar performed all of this in front of the .

Lamar opened the performance by telling : 鈥淭he revolution is about to be televised. You picked the right time, but I鈥檓 the wrong guy.鈥� Playing on the iconic 1971 Gil Scott-Heron song, 鈥淭he Revolution Will Not Be Televised,鈥� Lamar excited Black viewers about the potentially disruptive and culturally impactful performance. But, honestly, that line left me at 鈥測ikes.鈥澛�

Lamar鈥檚 chart-topping song 鈥淣ot Like Us鈥� is one of the greatest and most successful diss tracks of all time. His opponent, Drake, hates it and has even . But over time, the song has moved beyond its origins to become a catch-all critique of larger culture, namely because of the line 鈥淵ou not a colleague/ You a fuckin鈥� colonizer.鈥� 

What鈥檚 more striking is that Lamar performed this song in front of the same NFL fans who ousted Colin Kaepernick for taking a knee to protest racial injustice in 2016 and from the end zone ahead of the 2025 season. At this point, maybe the question we should be asking is: Who do we mean by 鈥渦s鈥�?

But Black folks seemed largely OK with this performance being touted as 鈥渢he revolution.鈥� Just like Brown鈥檚 request that folks keep patronizing Target, Lamar hasn鈥檛 been as critiqued as he should for giving the performance of a lifetime in front of a fascist.

Wealthy Black folks acting in their own best interests and the interests of those closest to them isn鈥檛 synonymous with Black uplift or聽community investment. In this political moment, there鈥檚 a fascist who and who stands to unravel every protection and equity initiative secured by organizers and freedom fighters for the past two generations. We don鈥檛 also need more empty platitudes from Black celebrities and influencers, or pretend revolutions that line the pockets of mega-wealthy NFL owners, record producers, and racist businessmen.聽

I also hope this moment is teaching those of us who are truly invested in building a freer and more just future that we won鈥檛 often find the revolutionary work of dismantling white supremacy and building a better world by looking up at people who are deeply embedded in it. We have to look at the people alongside us鈥攖he bus drivers, church mothers, nurses, school teachers, and librarians鈥攚ho are not only struggling each day to confront the realities of this administration but who are directly impacted by its violent and harmful policies.

I鈥檝e never disagreed with Lamar before, but he got this one wrong. The revolution will not be televised because the revolution won鈥檛 be happening on a football field or in store aisles. The revolution will happen where it always has: silently, quietly, and away from the white-coded and white-centered systems seeking to pacify and destroy it.