Earlier this week, Master P sparked a bit of controversy when quotes surfaced of him saying that he hoped Black people would stop talking about slavery and start changing the future. As usual when topics like this arise, people found the comment problematic. But what Master P said about the backlash should receive as much attention as the original comments. “I love my people. And when you bring up slavery our ancestors went through so much. We’re not going to forget about them, we will continue to bring awareness. But we got to bridge the wealth gap.” Master P continued on responding to the backlash. This is an important distinction. If Master P is saying all that Black Americans should do is remember our past and stop looking toward a future of building businesses, purchasing property, investing our dollars, starting institutions and closing the racial wealth gap, then there is little to agree with. When Master P speaks about ownership he has earned his credibility. He didn’t just become a rapper and get rich. He built an empire with No Limit Records that was predicated on the concepts of ownership, control, and entrepreneurship. However, his original statement left many with a far larger question. Why are black people so often told to stop talking about slavery?
America hasn’t ever stopped remembering history.
Black people have been told some version of this line our whole lives. “Slavery was over 100 years ago, stop living in the past. Stop talking about racism and move forward.” America doesn’t say that about itself. We teach kids about the founding fathers who died over 200 years ago. We say “Never forget” about 9/11. We have memorials for Pearl Harbor, museums on battlefields, and presidential libraries. We litigate in courtrooms every day about what specific words written in the Constitution in 1787 mean in 2026. No one questions the relevance of the constitution; America knows its past is the foundation of its present. So why is it when Black people apply that same logic we’re told our history/memory is unhealthy? Remembering slavery doesn’t mean you want to be enslaved. Researching Jim Crow doesn’t mean you want Jim Crow back, and knowing about redlining doesn’t remove Black Americans from personal accountability. Pointing to history isn’t an excuse… It’s proof. It’s why we’re here.
Here Is Why Conversations About Slavery Are Still Valid: This Conversation Is Also About Power
Part of that response may be attributed to institutional power. Jewish Americans have constructed and been influential in creating robust institutions in American business, media, entertainment, academia, philanthropy and politics. I’m not suggesting Jewish people have taken over those industries. Neither am I suggesting Jewish Americans are a monolith. The lesson is not how to hate on another group of people for being successful. The lesson is studying how they built and maintain institutions that allow them to protect their history and their interests. Black America has millionaires and billionaires. We have superstar athletes, award-winning entertainers, powerful executives, politicians and household-name television personalities. What we failed to do as a community, however, was connect individual success to collective institutional power. One does not imply the other. Individual Black excellence is not communal Black power. A highly compensated Black manager on the staff of a major media company does not translate to Black ownership of that media company. Black people strategically placed in positions of influence at financial institutions does not always mean we have enough Black-controlled capital. Black elected officials do not mean Black communities have accumulated enough political strength to possess sway independent of the party in power. There’s a reason why People of Color are often referred to as “minority groups.” There’s power in numbers and collective control. Understanding the difference between being invited to the table and owning the table is critical. Institutions allow communities to keep their history alive, protect their interests, educate young people and mobilize when their interests are being undermined. So maybe the question is not only about why people feel empowered to tell Black people to stop talking about slavery. Maybe we should also ask ourselves why have we not built enough institutions of our own to scare people off when they try to dismiss our past. We don’t need people to forget. We need power behind our memory.
If You’re Talking About the Wealth Gap, You Have to Talk About History Too
When Master P took to Twitter earlier this week to say if there was a “wealth gap between white and black people lets stop trying to close the gap and study how to get it back,” he actually made a strong argument for the study of history.
If there exists a racial wealth gap, why wouldn’t we want to know how that gap was created in the first place before trying to close it? Blacks did not wake up one day and collectively decide that we did not want to build wealth. After slavery there was emancipation, Black Codes, racial terrorism, Jim Crow, segregation, redlining and restricted access to wealth-building opportunities. The former were not just acts of individual bias; many were undergirded by laws, government policies and institutions. Through it all, Blacks still built wealth. We purchased property. We established businesses. We founded churches. We created banks and developed thriving communities and business districts. Sometimes what was built by Black Americans was destroyed. Other times it was stolen. And other times government policies prevented Black families from capitalizing on wealth-building opportunities that were afforded to other Americans. Just because slavery ended in 1865 didn’t mean that racial inequality ended the next day. The 13th Amendment ratified in 1865, the 14th Amendment in 1868 and the 15th in 1870 but Black Americans would spend generations trying to access the rights those amendments were supposed to guarantee them. The Fair Housing Act wasn’t passed until 1968, over 100 years after the Emancipation Proclamation. That means there are people currently living in the United States who were born into a country where major forms of housing discrimination were legally permitted by the federal government. That isn’t ancient history.
Advantages Compound, and So Do Disadvantages
America seems fine acknowledging inheritance when we talk about wealth. Families can inherit homes, businesses, land, investments and financial savings, all opportunity and wealth that can be passed down from generation to generation for children and grandchildren who had nothing to do with actually building that wealth. If we can accept that advantages can accrue generationally, we shouldn’t be arguing about whether or not disadvantages can do the same. Just because American history was marked by discrimination against Black people doesn’t mean the economic state of every Black person in America today can be tied directly to an event that happened 100 years ago. And just because America has a history of economic discrimination against Black people doesn’t mean every white American has been personally handed wealth from slavery. But for too many people, that’s where the conversation ends. Saying that historical policies have no bearing on today’s economy is just as stupid as saying that today’s economy is wholly determined by past policies. Acknowledging the former should not absolve anyone of believing in the latter.
Master P Is Right About Responsibility and Ownership
This is why Black America needs to truly listen to Master P. While we can’t ignore our history, we cannot let learning about it become an excuse not to act. We cannot spend all of our time highlighting what somebody did to us instead of figuring out what we are willing to do for ourselves and future generations. The next generation of Black children should learn about entrepreneurship, investing, credit, homeownership, owning land, technology, AI, financial literacy and how to build a business. We should be asking ourselves how much money Black America makes and spends but also how much Black America owns and controls. We need Black banks to become stronger but we also need Black businesses to become stronger. We need to fix our families and build stronger financial networks. We need Black media that is independent and community organizations that address the needs of our people. We also need to build stronger political institutions within our communities. Black America can demand that they teach slavery properly in schools while we build and learn how to grow our own businesses. We can talk about redlining while also encouraging Black homeownership. We can demand that the government be held accountable for past injustices while we also demand those who commit crimes against our community inside our communities be held accountable. We can debate reparations while we build generational wealth for our families. Accepting what America did to us and demanding more from ourselves are not mutually exclusive. If our goal is true empowerment we must do both.
Don’t Forget Slavery—Learn From It
Maybe instead of telling Black America to “stop talking about slavery”, we should focus on telling Black America to learn something from the slavery we keep talking about. Learn what slavery can teach us about ownership. Learn what Reconstruction can teach us about political power and the danger of losing it. Learn what Jim Crow can teach us about government and law. Learn what redlining can teach us about property ownership and generational wealth. Learn what economic exclusion has taught us about controlling our own capital, and learn what Black Wall Streets can teach us about building and maintaining our own institutions. Once we learn these lessons, we can apply them by purchasing property, starting businesses, investing, teaching financial literacy, empowering families, and building up independent Black institutions while gaining political and economic leverage. Master P is right that we can’t change yesterday, but we can learn from yesterday how to build our tomorrow. I actually think his follow-up statement steers us into waaay better territory: “We are not going to forget them and will keep bringing awareness, but we have to bridge the wealth gap.” I’ll gladly drink to that.
Black America Needs More Power Behind the Memory
Never should black Americans forget our ancestors. However we should never allow ourselves to define black existence during enslavement solely through the lens of our suffering. They lived through it. They formed families despite it. They created a culture in spite of it. They built institutions because of it. They fought for their freedoms knowing their children and grandchildren may reap the rewards of that fight. Remembering is not what’s holding black America back. What we do after we remember is what will determine our future. America remembers the Boston Tea Party and calls it patriotism. America remembers the victims of September 11th and calls it honoring the dead. Jewish Americans remember the Holocaust and the world understands the necessity of teaching future generations about what happened. Black Americans should never feel embarrassed about demanding slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow and the fight for civil rights stay engraved in our collective memories as well. Remembering won’t kill us.
However, pride in our history alone will not give black Americans the power we’ve yet to achieve as a people. Ownership of our history is just the beginning. Our next step should include institution building, economic independence and the ability to defend ourselves from anyone who threatens our best interests. We shouldn’t celebrate when we produce another black millionaire and ignore the fact that we have no institutions that can outlive him. That may be the biggest lesson black America can take from the Master P controversy. We don’t remember too much. Our history is not typically tied to our economics or our political ideologies in a way that will build independent black power. Individual black success does not mean collective black strength. Black America will never have to forget slavery to move forward. We simply have to figure out what our history has taught us, apply those lessons to today and build something that can be passed down to future generations. We don’t need less black history. We need more black power behind our history.
