Instant Blackness with a ticket and a name badge at the General Mills Foundation’s – MLK Breakfast 2010
The closer we get to the beginning of 2010, and the possibility of Corporate America getting closer to “Blackness” in anticipation of Martin Luther King’s birthday and Black History Month, there are important questions that we must ask ourselves. Why has Black America let the commemoration of our history and achievements slip into the hands of White commercialization?
By Donald W.R. Allen, II – Editor in Chief/IBNN
In 1961, my birth certificate said I was born a Negro. In 2009, given the existence of a playing field that is only semi-level—and even that, only for certain blacks- black Americans as a whole are still in the “Realm of Negroism.”
On January 18 2010, General Mills Foundation and the United Negro College Fund will present the 20th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday Breakfast.
The Breakfast “is an opportunity to celebrate the legacy of service of Dr. King and create an imperative to live out his legacy today in our homes, our communities and our world,” according to the MLK Breakfast website.
But wait. Next question.
Just what is Dr. King’s legacy? And how can we claim to honor this legacy, with no real engagement with the urgent issues that affect people of color every day?
Dr. King’s legacy cannot be lived and made real today over breakfast and tea, but requires grassroots organizing, protest, and activism. To fully understand this fact, we must look at the history of the Civil Rights Movement.
The Civil Rights Movement was at a peak from 1955-1965. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, guaranteeing basic civil rights for all Americans, regardless of race, after nearly a decade of nonviolent protests and marches, ranging from the 1955-1956 Montgomery bus boycotts to the student-led sit-ins of the 1960s to the huge March on Washington in 1963.
We must realize that Dr. Martin Luther King’s words and actions were considered radical at the time. They gained popularity because he spoke Truth to the People of the United States. Dr. King said, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Today, Black America has become mute and non-confrontational.
The General Mills Foundation’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Annual Breakfast is a Minnesota-white, “fun” way of celebrating this honored day. King’s birthday has become a national holiday in the United States, bringing a celebratory piece to MLK’s legacy that is non-threatening, and comfortable both to White America and Black America’s comfortable Talented 10th. These groups can now ignore the real meaning of Dr. King’s message while wearing Blackness and Diversity on their sleeves by buying a ticket to a breakfast to celebrate whatever they do at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
Personally, I think the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. deserves better out of us and the General Mills Foundation.
What really upsets me – examples of challenges: Minnesota Viking Adrian Peterson has a $200,000 Nike sneaker collection with their own closet. Yet you can’t get any of the professional athletes in town to assist any Black north Minneapolis agency to build capacity in fund-raising or endorsements.
The Minnesota Timberwolves in collaboration with the Minnesota Chapter of the Black MBA’s invited Black professionals to a pre-season game with all the makings of VIP event; food, wine, box tickets, etc…
Black professionals came out over 400 strong to hear the pitch by the “Black faces” of the Minnesota Timberwolves concerning how great it would be if they formed a partnership and purchased season tickets to the Timberwolves. One problem with a “partnership” T-Wolves style – it’s only one way.
I approached a Timberwolves official and asked, “How much in advertising and public relations dollars have you done with the minority-ethnic press in the Twin Cities?” His angry reply was that I should contact the Community Relations personnel.
Not a good thought.
If the General Mills Foundation were truly concerned about Dr. King’s legacy rather than the good PR they get from hosting an event in his name, they would take a hard look at the State of Black Minnesota. They would ask why a city like Minneapolis can’t escape high unemployment numbers, despite the funding that has been allocated to remedy this problem.
They would open up a plant in north Minneapolis to make the boxes and bags that General Mills products are packed in, and hire from 55405 and 55411. These zip codes are the hardest hit in the state in terms of the rates of foreclosure and unemployment. They also have a median income that is $12K below the state average.
The GM Foundation would also address the catastrophic failure of the Minneapolis Public Schools to teach and graduate children of color. Rather than highlighting the successes of the small number of programs that they fund, they would acknowledge the deep roots of the problem, and seek real solutions.
The General Mills Foundations holds monthly meetings in the north Minneapolis’ Hawthorne neighborhood. Ideally at these meetings, they would discuss ways to create jobs, hope, and opportunity, rather than simply hearing the latest report from the 4th police precinct and concluding, “That’s great, crime is down.”
This is what the late Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy is about. The MLK Breakfast itself has nothing to do with MLK, other than being an arena Blacks and Whites can go and make “puffery and folly” of a day designated for a great man.
General Mills Foundation will never know what this fight was and is like from the side of the oppressed; they are the privileged ones.
“When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.” ~Martin Luther King Jr.
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5 Responses to “Instant Blackness with a ticket and a name badge at the General Mills Foundation’s – MLK Breakfast 2010”
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I suppose you think Vetern’s day is now a joke since it used to be recognized as armistice day, and there used to a be a 2 minute moment of silence to at 11:00am to respect the 20+ million that died in WW1. But now, Veteran’s Day no longer observes a moment of recognized silence. Instead we recognize those who have died in all wars and celebrate those who are fighting in current wars. I suppose that is only to make ‘puffery and folly’ of the day designated for the 20+ million great men that died.
I am sure since you are soooo into civil rights history, this shouldn’t be new news…but the Passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act codified racism into federal law, denying citizenship for Chinese immigrants and suspending their entry into the United States. It was not repealed until 1943. Now, please let me know of any companies that celebrate or host a breakfast with any type of recogniition towards this effort. And if yes, let me know if people are writing and complaining about it.
It is like you are complaining that they are doing something. If you knew more things about General Mills you would realize they dedicate an entire month long edcuational festivities not only in their HQ, but across their other 4 business centers.
And if you yourself is really concerned about the legacy of MLK, you would look past the state of Minneasota. MLK’s effects were everlasting on not only that state and one race – but all states and all races.
Dear Ms. – I am Black 365 days a year. One month of “educational celebration” does nothing to address the catastrophic failures of the machine that have not even given us a spoonful of integration. “Instant Blackness” should be a new GM product.
I have said for years that cultural diversity is not for the people of color but for the liberal set to ease the guilt, for doing nothing in the name of social justice, when an Obama tshirt is not enough. Honestly, Dr. King I am sure rolls in his grave when he is appropriated in this manner.
He was very critical of the poor being used as a pawn… Read More and as a job opportunity. That is not what he was about. We need to get real about social justice, not a way to pat your back and feel good about doing NOTHING!
It is sick really what has been done to his legacy. The very people that have the ability to change things do nothing and label the most vunerable “at risk” so they get a another gig to keep their job, this has been the status quo for the last 40 years.
i am a mixed raced INDIVIDUAL 365 days of the year and I still think you are complaining for the sake of it. Would you rather companies do nothing? I think you need some cheese with your WINE.
And for the record, GMI has one of the strongest networks celebrating being an African American in and out of the workplace – Black Champions. It supports being ‘black’ [as you call it] 365 days of the year. What does your work place do to support you?!?
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