I’ve been called an old soul. It’s likely due to my musical tastes.
I love R&B, Funk, Jazz, and Fusion. That music was in my spirit and began to flourish as a teenager. But make no mistake, I am a child of hip hop. I am an ’80s baby, but most certainly a ’90s kid. The 90s were when I came of age. At the turn of the millennium, my Hip Hop consumption was defined to a tee. I loved extravagant, complex, and soulful beats. I loved beats fueled by samples, with clever, insightful lyrical content.
As a result, one of my favorites was the Diplomats, aka Dipset. Cam’ron, Jim Jones, and Juelz Santana. They weren’t the greatest rappers by any stretch, but those beats quaked, and Cam was a more than capable lyricist to lead the faction. Jim Jones had a hit, and Juelz was like the little brother with all the swagger and braggadocio to match that of Cam and Jim. And to Juelz’s credit, he had really good voice inflection over beats.
Black Thought Juelz was not.
Black Thought and the Roots were where I went for conscious and insightful content. This isn’t to say the Roots were the only place to consume that brand of Hip Hop. By and large, rap artists are intelligent, creative, socially aware, and conscious. Rapping is an art form, as is sampling and beat-making overall. Juelz Santana had talent. Sadly, however, some of the artists we’ve grown with and looked up to over the years have proven that talent is no mask for ignorance. Juelz proved last month that none of his talent erased any of the ignorance.
In a recent interview, Juelz shared the “thought” that young people didn’t need to learn how to read. It echoed Birdman’s sentiment last year to inmates, when he said they didn’t need more books in prison. Juelz’s point was that young people ought to be taught math, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship, to which I agree, but let’s put a pin in that for now. The idea, however, that those should be taught at the expense of reading—as Juelz asserted—is asinine, if you can call it an idea at all. He tried to sanitize his statement, saying people aren’t supposed to be illiterate. But, he continued, sounding ignorant:
“By the time they get to ninth grade they should be learning how to start businesses… But they don’t really need to learn how to read… You could listen to a book on YouTube. You can still obtain the information. You don’t have to know how to read… I believe common sense is better than everything… Reading is just when people want to embarrass you and try to play you… or, ‘You can’t read your contract.’ Anybody who said you can’t read your contract, they didn’t read their contract… They had a lawyer read their contract. They just saying it to be funny.”
The dude next to him agreed with him, using Floyd Mayweather as evidence for success without reading. Both are ignorant, if not outright lost. Hopefully, someone shares what I am about to say to these brothas so they can find themselves, since they likely can’t read it.
I know. That was a low blow, but not lower than asserting that Black and brown children don’t need to read.
Children, especially Black children, need to know how to read. Yes, growing up I thought all those advertisements for reading, calling it fundamental and the passport to the world, sounded really corny. But I could read them, so I could determine myself how I felt about the message they were sharing. That’s the power of reading.
Learning to read as a young student helped ensure I would not be embarrassed when called on during a reading-aloud session in class. But as I grew older, reading became a powerful tool. It improved my imagination, critical thinking, and writing. As I read more, I developed opinions on various topics grounded in evidence. I was able to apply what I gleaned from the pages in various ways to my life. Reading clarified my lens as a Black man in America; I once argued with people on social media, now I chuckle and scroll past ignorant and ill-informed posts. Reading the work of justice scholars and revolutionaries gave me the clarity to explain why our society is the way it is and why it is for my people.
This is why I stress the importance of reading in my classroom with my students. My teachers never explained the power of reading this way, nor introduced me to the sort of texts I’ve introduced to my own students. That’s the power of a Black teacher, but I digress.
I’ve read articles and a few studies about college students no longer reading and I believe it because getting my students to read outside of class (and sometimes in class) can be a challenge. Back to Juelz’s point, increasing literacy as a way to understand the world is a paramount goal because reading informs the entrepreneur. It informs the corporate executive. It informs the math, business, and financial literacy teacher. Reading makes these professionals better not only in their respective professions but also in their interactions with fellow men and women.
For African Americans, reading builds awareness of the world we navigate and how to navigate it. For example, a Black financial literacy teacher in high school, as I once was, who is well read on topics such as white supremacy, racial capitalism, imperialism, and exploitation, will likely approach the subject of financial literacy very differently from someone who is not well read on such matters. Financial literacy is often taught in predominantly Black (and brown) schools due to the racist presupposition that Black people are bad with their money because of a culture of poverty. The reality is that wealth gaps exist due to systemic factors rooted in white supremacy, imperialism, and economic exploitation.
Teaching kids how to budget and use a credit card, while admirable, fails to address the racism and exploitation that explain why their parents work multiple jobs where they’re not paid a living wage or why their schools lack the necessary resources compared to their peers schools. A teacher who has read and studied these matters can teach that class in a way that equips students with practical skills and the context to address societal challenges fueled by racism, providing them with the content and context to put that class to good use in their lives.
Reading strengthens neural pathways, improves memory, focus, and analytical skills, and can reduce stress and increase empathy—making that financial literacy teacher a teacher of liberation; making students agents of liberation.
Reading is liberation. Our ancestors literally gained freedom once they learned how to read. The same is true for us. When we read for ourselves, we liberate ourselves. Capitalism won’t save us. Black capitalism won’t save us. What will save us is clarity, understanding, and strategic critical thinking. That kind of empowerment comes from reading. Whether a book by Carter Woodson or a life-changing music contract.
I know that (ignorant) misery loves company. But so do enlightened readers. Let’s be sure to encourage young people to join the latter company.
