While all the attention swirling around Oprah Winfrey’s new $40 million Leadership Academy in South Africa last week focused on what inner city America might have missed out on, some may have missed out on the bigger picture.
After the media mogul and philanthropist unveiled the school, controversy and questions erupted almost immediately. News pundits, politicians and other critics wanted to know why Winfrey lent such assistance to Africa and not to needy inner city schools here at home. They also chastised Winfrey for spending lavishly on appointing the 22-acre campus with marble flooring, outdoor and indoor theaters, a beauty salon and a yoga studio.
Winfrey fired back that she chose to share this particular gift with African children rather than inner city American children because she believed those in Africa valued education more. She added that she intentionally spared no expense in constructing the 28-building campus so as to bring out the beauty within the girls attending the school.
But what Winfrey’s comments further demonstrate is class warfare taking place within the Black community, says Dr. Shawn Ginwright, an associate professor of Africana studies at San Francisco State University. “It’s a silent war that nobody wants to talk about.”
In making her response, Winfrey echoed complaints Bill Cosby made a little more than two years ago, and which he has been repeating ever since.
