Ice Cube said that if Black America expects real sweeping change in the area of racial equality, a major shift has to happen across the board. If not, racism will just be carried over from one part of society to another.
To help make sure that doesn’t happen, the rapper, actor and director released “A Contract with Black America” on Wednesday, July 1. It’s a 22-page document that includes sections titled “Black Opportunity and Representation,” “Massive Bank Lending and Finance Reform,” and “Entertainment Industry Reform and Reparations.”
“Mandatory funding of Black studios by the largest Hollywood studios,” the document reads. “Record companies, and television studios and networks to compensate for years of lack of support, stereotyping, and damage to Black culture. Each will be required to fund an amount yearly.”
Under another section titled “Monuments and Institutions,” Cube wants to “Eliminate all Confederate and overtly racist statues.”
“Rather than destroy them, they are to be kept by the National Archives, Smithsonian Institute, and/or analogous State facilities,” it says in the contract. “They are to be used only in displays and exhibits designed to investigate our racist past.”
Cube has been extremely vocal on social media since George Floyd died while in the custody of a former Minneapolis police officer. He’s supported protesters, called out U.S. President Donald Trump, and posted photos of famed activists like Angela Davis.
The former N.W.A. member also said that Black people should be exempt from paying taxes because of racism, something he communicated in a June tweet.
Cube talked about the contract and his ideas to help Black America during an interview with “The Breakfast Club” on Wednesday, July 22, and explained why the document was created.
“I thought it was important to try to put all these issues in one document,” he explained at the 2:17 mark. “It’s far from perfect. We going to go out there and still find some of the people who’ve been experts in all these fields and who’ve been working on all these fields.”
Cube then said he released the contract to have something that not only Black people can rally behind but “all walks of America.”
“If you just do police reform, it’s just gonna be abuses picking up in other areas,” he explained. “We got to do not only police reform but justice reform and prison reform. The 13th Amendment still allows for slavery when it comes to being incarcerated. So these things need to be fixed and it’ll start solving a lot of the problems we have in America.”
The “Friday” director also shared the contract on Twitter on Sunday, July 19, which is the latest version.
“This is an updated version of A CONTRACT WITH BLACK AMERICA,” he wrote. “We’ve been working with a lot of experts and great people during these last few weeks. The document is much stronger and much more detailed. We will continue towards perfection.”
