(ThyBlackMan.com) When I first started to notice that materialism was a thing that had a severe impact on my community, I was in my senior year of high school. Growing up and all throughout high school I never travelled outside of my neighborhood so all I knew was people that looked like me and how we did things. I was oblivious to other cultures and it never dawned on me that the way I was living wasn’t the only way to live. I live in Crown Heights, Brooklyn where the average salary among African Americans is only about $40,000 and I went to high school in East New York, Brooklyn where the average income is just over $49,000. I think we all can agree that these are not wealthy communities, but by the way kids dressed coming to school I would’ve thought otherwise. They would come to school with every new pair of Jordan’s that came out, other sneakers that would cost over $300, jeans that retailed over $200 and so on. It almost felt like a fashion show instead of high school. I assumed that these people came from families with money and I unfortunately didn’t, that must be the only explanation right?
It wasn’t until I got a job working in a movie theatre near Lincoln Centre that I realized I was completely wrong. These kids having these expensive name brand clothing wasn’t because their parents made so much money, they sacrificed a lot to get these things for their kids because that is where their values are placed. These things were used as status symbols and as a way of validating themselves over their neighbors. My experience working in the Upper West Side of Manhattan shed light on the fact that people who make a lot of money consume less and place their values in things other than name brand clothing and other materialistic objects.
One of my most vivid memories from high school is in English class sitting in a circle and talking with my friends. We were talking about the different classes in society and everyone assumed they were middle class. I brought up the notion that we were all poor lower class citizens of society. Everyone got angry at me and it got to the point where some people wanted to get physical. Most of their arguments against my claim were; “my shoes cost this much”, “do you know what type of coat this is?”, “my mother drives a Mercedes Benz” and other things along those lines. The fact that they tried to solidify their place in society by naming the amount of items they had and how much these things cost told me a lot. We all lived in poor communities but somehow they felt as if they were middle class.
I figured that this unfortunate misconception came from a misplaced value system that was eating our community inside out. Everyone wants to keep up with the Joneses and have more things and spend as much money on those things as possible. Although my mother lacked financial education and often spent money recklessly, she did not raise my siblings and I to value materialistic things so we never felt the need for it. Reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad helped me put this issue of materialism into perspective. Many African Americans in poor communities don’t have financial education and don’t understand the difference between assets and liabilities.
I know a family that has lived in my community for over 20 years. The father of the house makes over $100,000 a year and the mother does not work. The mother of the family likes to brag about how much her partner makes but they don’t have any assets to show for this income. About 13 Years ago they purchased a car that was well over $30,000, they finished paying for the car sometime last year. For some reason they felt as if one car wasn’t enough and purchased another one. It is a common misconception for people who lack financial education to believe that cars are assets but in reality they are liabilities. As soon as the car leaves the lot, the value of it decreases and never goes back up. 20 years of making $100,000, if you invest and spend your income wisely, can put you in a good financial situation.
I have a strong belief that pop culture is one of the main reasons for the severity of materialistic values that are in our communities today. This generation isn’t like former generations when kids looked up to doctors and lawyers and wanted to be like them. Kids in todays’ society look up to the rappers, models, and athletes. They want to do what they do and live the lives they see on television and on social media. With the emergence of social media, we have access to look at people living these luxurious lifestyles with jewelry, cars, and high end fashion in a moment’s notice. This leads to people spending their paychecks as soon as they get them so they can look like their idols.
I think this raises a bigger issue of kids having delusional ambitions of being rappers, athletes, and entertainers instead of finding their own way to contribute to society. Out of the millions that want to make it to the NBA, there are less thatn 500 spots in the league. Not to mention you have to be extraordinarily talented, hard-working, and lucky to get one of those spots. Most people are not born with natural talent such as LeBron James or Michael Jordan. That is the harsh truth about our society that kids in this generation are not willing to accept. They feel as if they need to be wearing designer clothes and rocking jewelry at 16 years old. There are people who are strong minded and strong willed enough to not become obsessed with these materialistic items, but the ones who are not are swallowed up whole in the abyss of consumption. They will continue to seek validation and comfort in things and miss the better things that life has to offer. “I wish you would learn to love people and use things, and not the other way around”. This is a quote from a song called ‘Connect’ by Drake. The song is written from the perspective of him speaking with a girl and this line comes up in the conversation. I think this quote is fitting for where our community places their values. Instead of loving people and living life for its experiences, we love things which have no real value and put people last.
How do we solve this issue of materialism in our communities? That is a question that has been awaiting an answer for a long time. People in our communities are dying over sneakers, coats, and jewelry. Crimes are not being committed for survival, people in our community are committing crimes to be fresh. It is truly devastating to know that materialistic values can lead to someone taking another person’s life. I have a few suggestions on how this idea can be eliminated from our community. I believe that the first step is having strong black role models for the children in our community. We cannot recover from this if everyone wants to be a rapper or an athlete, our kids have to have real life role models that can teach them the true meaning of life and that materialistic things are just things. Next, I think that giving kids a financial education would also help. If they know the true value and the true purpose of money, I believe they would choose to do more progressive things with their money. I am not saying these things will 100% work, but I think they can be effective in helping with our value system as a community.
Staff Writer; Jeaville Fraser