Oprah’s $40,000,000 dilemma: America needs schools too..
Over the past 5 years, Oprah has been building a 40 million dollar sanctuary in South Africa; a leadership academy for young underprivileged girls, fulfilling a promise she made to former president Nelson Mandela in 2001. And in traditional Oprah style she went all out, purchasing a 28 building campus with theatres, science labs, libraries and sports facilities. At the school opening this week, Winfrey attracted a celebrity turnout that 
looked more like a Hollywood red carpet: Tina Turner, Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, Sidney Poitier, Chris Tucker, Chris Rock and Spike Lee among others were in attendance. My first inclination, after reading about this story was: this is a Blackademics dream! A sister coming out of the hood, building an empire and at the height of her career, redistributing that wealth back into the international Black community by starting a school. What more could you ask for, right? It never occurred to me to question what she was doing with her money, until she raised the issue herself in an interview with USA Weekend magazine,
“I perhaps will get criticism about, ‘Why didn’t you do this for children in America…’
Winfrey says candidly that when she has tried to help kids in this country, ‘I have failed.’ Attempting to mentor a group of girls from her adopted hometown of Chicago, “I took them on ski trips, we had etiquette classes … you’d teach them how to do their makeup, we’d read and talk about books. And when they went home, they were criticized and beat up because their families said, ‘Who do you think you are?’ The failure taught her ‘you can’t just give people money, new homes, new stuff and think that you’re giving them a new life.’
read entire article here.
This is troubling on several levels. On one hand, it’s sad because it reveals how a community can attack their own people for advancing, revealing an internalized self-depression wrought by generations poverty and subjugation. I think we’re all familiar with the “who do you think you are” syndrome, but does that constitute failure? Should Oprah throw in the towel on Black Americans because the Black community has more than it’s fair share of haters? Furthermore, what makes her think the 150 little girls at her leadership academy in South Africa won’t be dealing with the same disdain from the South African community (not to mention the 3,000 applicants that didn’t get in)?
My second problem with this statement is in Oprah’s method of “mentoring.” Taking these girls out of the streets of the Chi for ski trips and etiquette classes, does not seem like an honest attempt at helping them transform their lives. Mentoring takes time, energy, consistent attention, care and investment. It’s no surprise that her first attempt failed. To her credit, Winfrey did also mention in the article that the United States already has a developed school system, and that she was trying to help establish one in a country that really needed it. But how good is the American school system? I’m increasingly hearing arguments from peers that suggest Oprah should help Americans first, before she starts setting up shop elsewhere. Where do you stand on the debate?
Published on January 9, 2007 at 10:30 pm.
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Filed under news/politics, academia, women's issues/feminism, mainstream culture.
