Announcing "Ownership is the New Black"
Phebe Meyer, a Senior Associate of the Clapham Group, is giving her own reflection this month and introducing a project that is very dear to her heart. Read below about the conversation between Phebe, Mark, and Derek Minor of Ownership is the New Black.
It was early June 2020. Our team at Clapham was reeling at the murder of George Floyd and the outcry of protests in DC. Those weeks were a blur. I remember feeling both completely emotionally drained and a steady sense of purpose as I prayed through what our response should be as an organization. I took time off work to go march in Washington DC just days after the initial set of protests. Standing shoulder to shoulder (with masks on, of course) shouting “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” brought me to tears. I grieved, I checked in with my friends, I had hard conversations with family members, and I kept thinking “What now? What’s next?”
It was around that time that Mark invited me to join him on a phone call with Derek Minor, a rapper and record label owner from Nashville. (As a side note, I’ve been a fan of Derek Minor since high school and I’ve probably never been more nervous and excited about a phone call.) When we asked Derek how he had been processing the last few weeks, he said he had grieved, but that it was time to get to work. He had started an initiative called Ownership is the New Black, dedicated to empowering a new generation of Black owners. I clearly remember hearing the passion and resolve in Derek’s voice as he said, “I love music, but this is what I want my legacy to be. This is what I want to be doing for the next fifty years.” I remember thinking, this is something I want to be a part of. This is what’s next.
And that’s when Mark said, “This is something we want to be a part of too.”
Fast forward several months. Together we have launched a website and kicked off a series of Instagram Live videos where Derek will be interviewing Black owners, founders, and leaders in different sectors. (Check out his interview with recording artist Lecrae on February 12 and with Greg Johnson from the Rockefeller Foundation on February 26 by following @we.own.now on Instagram!)
Derek Minor of Ownership is the New Black from Instagram @thederekminor
Derek Minor of Ownership is the New Black from Instagram @thederekminor
Derek, the founder and visionary, and Mimi McCarley, together are anchoring Ownership from Nashville, while Mark and I are supporting their work on behalf of the Clapham team. At its core, this is a movement. We champion ownership as a lifestyle, and all of us have been challenged in how we think about money and where we choose to put our money as we’ve built this brand (more on that in the next newsletter!).
To share more about the project and the vision, Mark and I did an interview with Derek. We’re so thrilled to be able to release this to the public and so hopeful for what is to come:
Phebe in Nashville with the Ownership Team
Mark: When did you first become aware of the wealth gap? Where did you experience that in your own life, in your community, and when did you become aware of the more macro level of the wealth gap, the systemic issues, and then the disparities?
Derek: I think on a macro level, it has been in the last, say, the last five years... actually five to eight. It was after Trayvon [Martin] died. I started using my platform to talk about race, but I didn't know what I was talking about. I wasn't as well researched as I am now. I just knew something was wrong. And I know that I had experienced things like this, and I know I identified with the idea of discrimination or being singled out because of my color. And as I pulled deeper on that thread of "why" that's when I started seeing the picture develop more.
The first pushback to anything about race is, “What about Chicago? Everybody's currently killing each other in Chicago and Detroit.” And then you ask, “Well, why?” And then you keep asking why, and then you start seeing the other things. So I think it's probably been in the last five to six years that I got some sort of a grasp on what has happened systemically.
Phebe:Could you talk a little bit about when you realized the fact that this wealth gap is actually affecting the national GDP? The disparity in those numbers is so dramatic that I feel like so few people know.
Derek: It was an interview that I heard with Dr. Claude Anderson. It was on “The Breakfast Club” and he talked about how black people only own half of 1% of the wealth in America, post-Civil war. But now we own 1.5% of the wealth in America, you know, a hundred plus years, 150 years later, right? So it's like, this is crazy. And that's when I started being aware of how vast that is. But then also knowing that black people spend $1.3 trillion a year. So now I'm thinking, well, that doesn't make any sense. How do you only own 1.5% of the wealth, but you spend $1.3 trillion a year? Something is going on here. Right? And that's when I started trying to put the pieces together.
Mark: You have focused on the word ownership. But could you tease out a little bit the ownership dimension of the wealth gap? Because ownership implies an agency, right? That I'm able to own something, rather than that I'm blocked from owning something.
Derek: So I think the best example of that is Uncle Nearest Green. Uncle Nearest Green was a slave who worked for Jack Daniels, who was the property of Jack Daniels. And he created the recipe for the Jack Daniels alcohol. Now in normal circumstances, even if he sold some of his ownership, he'd still have some ownership. But being a slave means he doesn't have any ownership, because what he creates is owned by the slave master. Therefore you don't even have the right to do anything legally to say, I should have ownership in that.
So I look at that even as myself as an artist. I wanted to own my own record label because there are artists that I know that have put out album, after album, after album. And they only make this small amount. And then when they're not hot or their career is over, they don't get to prosper off of the masters that they own.
For me right now, since I own my master recordings, I can sell them for 10 times the value and just say, all right, I'm done. An artist that doesn't own anything, doesn't have that right. So that's why I started seeing that ownership is the actual wealth. It's not only the money. Like if someone is willing to pay me six figures to record music for them, then that means that my product is more than likely worth a billion dollars. You see what I mean? Like if you're willing to give me that much money just to work for you, then that means the person that's owning it is thinking that they'll make at least, let's just say, at least three to four times over. And that's why I'm always preaching that.
Or just when I bought my first house, I bought my first house with my wife when my second son was born, and [since then] it's gained value. It's gained a hundred thousand dollars worth of equity. It's those things. That's why redlining is so heinous because imagine if my grandparents or my great, great grandparents were able to just own a home and build wealth with the equity in their home. Imagine owning a home in Los Angeles 50 years ago. Imagine what you're looking at today. And that's kinda what shaped my perspective.
Mark: So you've got intellectual property, you've got homes. You talked about your own business and your decision to, as an artist, not just own your own masters, but to own your own label. And that is another aspect of ownership, which is business ownership. Let's talk about Ownership is the New Black now for a minute. When did that idea come? Where did the idea come from to kind of create a movement around ownership?
Derek: Yeah. So I have a little brother. We have the same dad but we have different moms. And my mom, like I told you, worked at a factory, and his mom was a stay at home mom. We had different upbringings and my mom was really big on finances. She'd never tell you she's a financial guru, but what she did say is "Son, you don't need to get a bunch of credit cards. You need to save." And she put that thing in me and his mom did not. And you know, we're having a conversation about my brother’s future, and I realize he's not struggling because of a lack of effort. He works his butt off. He's been to school, but he doesn't understand how money works. So when we would have these conversations about money, everything he would think about is so abstract. He only understood money in a way that you see it in entertainment, not how it actually works. So that's what made me say, wow, you know, cause he's also a musician as well. I was like, I'm going to teach him this. It's not a lack of effort, it’s not a lack of desire, but it's just a lack of education in the culture.
Mark: Tell me about some of your key goals with Ownership is the New Black. What a couple of the goals or outcomes that you'd like to see come as a result?
Derek: I think the first one is awareness. Using culture to bring awareness to the systemic issues that are facing black people as far as finance, but then also financial literacy for black people so that we can fill in the education gap for the people that do have a desire, but may not have the education. We fulfill that need. I would love to see an online class created that takes the TOMS model of buy one, give one. I think if we could create something that is comprehensive and just down to earth where the average person could understand it. I don't think just black people could benefit from that, the whole world could benefit from that. And then lastly, I'd love to put some money up. I would love to say we've sent 20 kids to college. I’d love to say we helped start 10, 15 businesses and whether that's my dime or, or, you know, donations or whatever, but you can't, you can't operate in capitalism without capital. It's just not built that way.
Mark: Last two questions. One is, is Ownership is the New Black an implicit critique of, or what is the relationship to, Orange is the New Black? Obviously, that is a play on words. Right? So would you talk about that interplay of, orange is the new black and ownership is the new black. Then lastly, who do you have involved with you on this project?
Derek: Yeah. So orange is the new black is not necessarily connected. The TV show is all about a white woman wearing orange in prison and that's “the new black”. For the people that don't know "the new black" thing was for a long time in entertainment a way of saying “that’s the new cool.” So, you know, the whole idea of the television show is that orange is the new black. And I believe that's been a narrative about black people for a long time, which is to follow what's cool. So I'm like, let's shift the narrative then. Ownership is the new black. There have been so many agendas. Let's try the ownership agenda, because I believe the ownership agenda is how we help get ourselves out of this mess, along with fighting the systemic things that affect us as well. Every time I bring up systemic issues about black people, oftentimes the critique is, well, there has to be personal responsibility. And I'm like, yes, we have to have both. It's not either, or. It's both, and. We can all walk and chew gum at the same time.
Mark: And who do you have who's signed on to be part of this new launch?
Derek: We have my good friend Lecrae. So he's signed up. He's super excited, chomping at the bit. KB is definitely another artist, but he also owns a clothing line called Native Supply, and it is doing amazing. And I remember when he literally did his tour, he did a tour and he took all of his money from the tour to build the clothing brand. And that's what I love about it. And then my brother, Justin Forsett, was a pro bowl running back for the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans. And now he has a new product called Hustle Clean. And it's for athletes who need to get clean on a go. When you can't get a shower, hit you with the real hustle clean wipes, and you're good to go, you feel me?
Mark: All right, brother. Well, thank you. Is there any last thing that you want to make sure we cover in this essay that we didn't cover now?
Derek: We got it. I think it was good.