Saul Williams has shared an email from JAY-Z in which the Roc-A-Fella co-founder, referencing an interview he’s not sure “is new or old,” shares his take on the fight for economic freedom. In the accompanying caption, Williams disputes JAY’s assessment.
“Our fight for economic freedom is new,” JAY said in the email, per Williams’ Instagram post on Sunday. It’s not the same war that Harriet Tubman was fighting. JAY went on to say that challenging each other “is a must” but said that care should be taken to ensure that challenging doesn’t come across as “judgment.”
In his own comments, Williams said he wouldn’t characterize the fight for economic freedom “as new” and noted the difficulty of achieving “psychological freedom” from capitalism.
“During segregation accumulated black wealth and black-owned business were at a peak,” Williams said. “Black newspapers, magazines, schools, record labels… Yet psychological freedom from hard taught capitalism is hard to earn. African billionaires, for example, have brought little relief to the continent of Africa. The seduction of power and the systemic constraints of white supremacy will take more than money to burn.”
See Williams’ full post, which also sees the Encrypted & Vulnerable artist arguing that art and music can be weaponry for destroying the system, below.
I wouldn’t characterize our fight for economic freedom as “new”. There have been wealthy black Americans in every generation since the 1600’s, and in Africa since forever. During segregation accumulated black wealth and black-owned business were at a peak. Black newspapers, magazines, schools, record labels… Yet psychological freedom from hard taught capitalism is hard to earn. African billionaires, for example, have brought little relief to the continent of Africa. The seduction of power and the systemic constraints of white supremacy will take more than money to burn. The root of the market economy is still almost entirely based on the sourcing of rare minerals where the exploitation of African miners and land is the analogue reality of the our modern-age technological advances. Thus, we push for essentially socialist measures which provide healthcare and education to all. Money can be disappeared, but the lessons you learn along the way are yours to keep. Whether we learn from the streets, schools, in prisons, or by playing the game, it is that hard-earned knowledge that allows us to understand how to spend what we earn in ways that can truly make a difference. Even as we push against the systemic structures in criminal justice, housing, etc. we know that it is not simply a question of money being used against us rather it is the ideology that negates our worth as human beings that seems to justify the constant exploitation of our worth and work. Thus the attack is largely against belief systems, philosophies empowered by money and a corrupted rule of law. Guggenheims, Rockefellers, Fords, Nobels, and the great philanthropists and supporters of the arts are all in recompense of the oil, the factory work, the mining, the weaponry, the staple crops, the plantations… that profit off the design of the system, after which the charitable hand is the only one left to give. I challenge the messaging through music when I feel it supports the system primarily because I see art and music as tools or weaponry that can be used to destroy it. The truth bangs harder. We learn that the more we tell it.
A post shared by saulwilliams (@saulwilliams) on Dec 1, 2019 at 9:12am PST
The publicly shared JAY-Z email and rebuttal arrives shortly after Williams shared a clip of an interview to his Instagram hashtagged #BlackFriday and #FBF in which he references The Black Album and pushes back against the argument of money as “the ultimate power.” Vision, Williams argued, is of more help.
Following the latest post, fans have shown support for Williams, with specific attention paid to the “truth bangs harder” line:
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