Pharrell Says Juneteenth Good for All Americans

And that, of course, was just moments ago President Biden in the East Room of the White House signing into law the eleventh national annual federal holiday in the US. Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day, a reference to ju E sixty five. That's the day when a Union general arrived in Galveston, Texas, telling African American slaves at the Civil War it was over. They were now free under the Emancipation Proclamation, which had been signed two years earlier, back

in eighteen sixty three by President Abraham Lincoln. Were joining us right now is Bloomberg New York Deputy Bureau Chief Shartilla Brantley joining us in our Interactive Broker studio. You know you do wonder especially after the year that we've had, we are having conversations. I had to pause for a moment because I was thinking, Chartier, if the last year hadn't happened. Uh, And in many ways we wish it didn't because of the pandemic, but of course of what

happened to George Floyd and so many other black Americans. Um, but if it hadn't, wouldn't this have happened? And would we be having some of the conversations that we're having in corporate America, that we're having in the Bloomberg newsroom, that we're really having around this country. I don't think so. I think we were satisfied with the glacial piece of progress that we had been making, and we were okay with ignoring the eight hundred pound elephant in the room.

You know, you have so many conversations as part of our Bloomberg Live events. You produce the Equality Summit, you know, and you've been doing that for a few years. Here has the conversation changed, especially when it comes to corporate America, about you know, more inclusion, more diversity, and not just talk but actually the walk it really does actually shameless plug,

we just hosted Corporate mandate for change. Earlier today a Bloomberger Quality briefing, and I had the opportunity to speak with LEVI CEO chip Berg and his chief Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Officer, Elizabeth A. Morrison on just um the reckoning that they've had within that organization. And we also had the heads of d n I from three M, Twitter and Mass Mutual to talk about how their organizations

have been impacted as well over the past year. You talked about a reckoning and LEVI, is that just within the management structure? Is it within the employee base or a little bit of everything? A little bit of everything. I think UM over the past year, companies have had to take a serious look at their numbers. And you may have diversity in the you know, entry level positions, but when it comes to senior management representation, what are

you doing? And I think companies like LEVI and other organizations are taking a step what does our board look like? What do our senior ranks look like? You know, you can't be what you can't see. What's interesting too? And if I look at corporate boards and you know, I feel like we went through a period where it was the same Black Americans on the same boards, right, rather

than branching it out. And that's part of it. Right, diversity means and inclusion means not just diversity among a few, but right really including the population that are such a significant part of our country. And we've seen quite a few initiatives pop up over the past year, you know, or slow Burns and her board Action for Diversity and other initiatives have propped up over the past year to try to a um educate and major corporations that there is a huge pool of executives who of color, who

are more than qualified to join corporate boards. Well, someone taking actions, someone looking to educate, someone looking to help and really spread out the wealth in our country is none other than singer, songwriter, producer, entrepreneur Pharrell Williams, who joins us right now on the phone, joining our own Bloomberg New York Deputy Bureau Chief Shartier Brantley. Pharrell, It's great to have you here. It's a very significant day

for this country. Talk to us about hearing about seeing about the President put Juneteenth a making it a federal holiday here in the United States. Well, of course, as an African American and African diaspora. All of our DNA is excited. We're very grateful to be recognized on a federal level. Um, But there's a lot of there's there's so much more work to do. UM. I'm not sure, but I think our state was first. Man, Um, it

would be the first state to do it. But man, it's been a long time coming, you know, and for so long people have you know, debated as to whether you know, it's an either or situation with you know, Independence Day. But my ancestors, most like everybody else who's African American and people of color here, our ancestors had to fight in the war, whether it was on either side, they had to do it. Um. But they were not free, and nor were white women, and nor were lgbt q

I a like. Essentially, no one was free, accept our our white brothers at the time, you know. Um, But this was America, and America was trying to figure out what it wanted to be. And once they made that decision, Um, it took a very long time for us to be emancipated. And for so long that day of emancipation for us, which was such a joyous day, Uh, we go ignored like it was something that was seen as like some sort of like divisive thing, but it's really not. Um,

it happens to be our history. And for us to be free, everybody's free. It's like we talk about liberty in our pledge, but even if we're really going to use that word, then everyone in this nation needs to be free. Everyone. So it was a good day. It was when I say that I'm in Americans. By the way, well, you're being inclusive, which is wonderful. And that's what this

is about. For rell, Why has our history become so controversial as of late and what does today's uh, you know, the President Biden signing this into law, does it increase the much needed conversations we need to bring us all together, because you can't move forward if you don't know where you've been, right right, Well, I mean there are those who just don't know the history, and then there are people who know the history but don't want to hear about it. Um. And then there are people who would

like for other people to not know the history. And then there's a lot of people who want people to really understand the history. Um. You know, we're on Bloomberg right right right now, right, you are and do you all know you know this this place that everything is where everything is traded, right, you know this place Wall Street? Do you know the history of Wall Street? Yes, you're talking about you do. The first commodity that was ever

traded on Wall Street? Slave trading? Is that what you're referencing. I can't yes, I can't hear you. Oh I said slave trading, right, because that's what they needed to stand against the wall. And there's a lot of people that

don't understand that or know that. Um. And and there's so much more, I mean, you know, and there's so many that and I don't want us to get off of the beautifu full celebration that is on teeth and and and what our president was able to do today and what by the way, the Senate and the House and we needed them both everybody unanisments that unanimously voted and and uh, I thought that was a very beautiful thing. It's such a it's a great gesture and such a

great step in the right direction. But again, we have a lot more to go. There was there was some delay between us, and I couldn't hear what you all were saying. But it's just there's so much um and I see I see critical race theory being like um, you know, I see it being question I see it being debated, and I see it see it being vilified.

But why would you not want people to know the history of our country in order for us to move forward like that is like the natural thing for us to do is to understand, you know, like celebrate our difference versus being afraid of them. You know, celebrate our stories and um and and and and and try to get bluff of healing. Are you concerned that in terms of as you said, this was an important day, but you don't want this to be necessarily a distraction, right,

There's still a lot of work to do. Shartie and I were talking before we got going with you, for all, is that we look around corporate boardrooms and they're still not really diverse, or the c suite isn't still really diverse. So we've had a lot of conversations again in the

past year. What do you see from some of the work that you're doing, are having an understanding of being a black American that what really needs to be done to make significant change so that there you know, we're not talking about d n I, we're actually having it

done and seeing it done well. So firstly, we have a jiltee pledge UM, and it would be great to have all of the fortune five hundred you know, uh, you know, all of the bigger corporations assignment UM and make sure people have a pay holiday or at least like a skeleton they are ghost day where they can figure out what they want to do with to day but still UM paid for it. There are Americans, right

and Juneteenth is now in American federal holiday. UM. But what we're what I'm doing specifically as it pertains to like the UM, the disparity and the disproportioned access to education health UH and health care UM and legislation is Black ambition and Black ambition. It's a prize that we put together so a five or one C three that we work in partnerships with the historic black colleges and

universities to find more UM, black and Latin X entrepreneurs. Now, why did we do that because if you look at the American pie chart, like we don't own enough things out there right where you find people in communities that own things their children actually have great acts health care, education and legislation. So in order us to have a voice, we've got to own more things. UM. And it wasn't just Tulsa, Oklahoma that this that this happened too. It's

happened many, many, many many times. Right. So what we want to do is create a level playing field, because we think that HBCUs have the most fertile grounds to launch such a prize in such as search UM and then and then once you win, the coolest part is there is mentorship. If you ask the less than three percent of the private equity and VC founders, UM, you know, of color, what was their biggest hurdle? You think it was the capital. Capital is hard, but what's even harder

as mentorship. It's like, you know, it's like giving a dirt, you know, a motorcycle to you know, a really excited twelve year old without training wheels or any kind of practice or any kind of UM schooling or tutelage. That's what we want to do is make sure that like when these people who have a good idea UM but may not have the business acumen, this has given them the advice to make sure that like their idea actually

can take off. I know that you launched this initiative back in December, and you're targeting you know, startups and black and Latin X entrepreneurs within consumer products and services, design, healthcare, UH and tech. UM. I was on your website and it said that National Demo Day is scheduled for next month. How many of these entrepreneurs will be making presentations. There's a lot. There's a whole, whole whole lot. I can

also tell you the numbers were crazy. UM. What I've tried to do, UM is get out of the way. I'm a galvanizer. This is something that I knew needed UM, But I'm not one of those like you know, celebrity people who are like, man, I'm like right in the middle in the front of this because one, yes, I'm an entrepreneur, but as it pertains to like training these people and mentoring these people for what it is that

they need. We wanted to make sure that, like, UM, this was in a true real partner with the g bc US, because there's a lot of talent that come out of there and they don't really get the love and the light and the shine that they deserve. So this is not like something where like I am like the Griffin on the ship. UM. If anything, it's just the black ambition that is. I don't know if that's answering your question, but I just wanted to just tell

you like it does. Well, I'm a proud graduate and I don't want to be I said, I'm a proud graduate of a historically black college and university. I graduated from Albany State University in Georgia. And one thing I do want to say, UM mentioning about black ambition. I see you partnered with some major organizations such as the Rockefeller Foundation, Adidas, UH, the chan Zuckerberg Initiative UM, and Ron Conway as the Angel. Was it um a challenge

bringing these big names together for this endeavor. Well, let me just tell you Ron Conway, and that's the Angel where he was the first one. It was on his birthday last year. I had a conversation with him at a dinner and he, you know, he stopped what he was doing and he got his falled out and he's got a piece of paper and literally he started working right there at that table, and honestly the rest has

been history. He called Willis Selden, African American partner at Bridge Fan UH to come on board to help us architect this thing. And she put together one of the most amazing, comprehensive, mostly female uh a mostly female team. It's one of the most amazing processes I've ever seen in my life. You realize that these five are one C three's are are just like any other art like it is it is, it's comprehensive, and these people are

real true architects, UM. And you know, Ron started picking up the phone and everyone answers the phone for him. He's a very smart man and he's lent his time, his likeness, and his resources to a lot of great causes. And I literally got a chance to watch this man work, UM because he really believed uh in black ambition. And so it hasn't been that hard. I mean, we've raised a lot of money UM, north of north of fifty million dollars and we're not gonna stop because it won't

it won't matter less than a year. It won't matter if the minorities and we're not really minorities, but the minorities in this country, you know, have an equitable opportunity to own and to and and by the way, not just own, but also senior leadership position. Something else that you talked about, like we need that, we need the diversity.

That's what America really and truly looks like. And what and and and to go back to your other question about whether it was hard or not, you know a lot of these big corporations realized, like these that that their consumer base votes by their purchases. You know, they vote with their credit cards. So it's like they got

to make these decisions. They have to make these changes because if not, people go to their competitor or they create their own right for you make a really good point, and Bloomberg has done a lot of reporting about this, that this isn't an income story. It's about being able to acquire wealth. And Black Americans haven't had the same opportunity when it comes to homes. They haven't had the same access when it comes to the establishment in the

financial community. Do you fault and and and does the traditional financial community still continue not to embrace minority communities. Sure, but that's just because they don't The ones that do that, they don't understand us, you know, they just think that we are consumers. They have no idea that we are

so contributors. We are all co creators. Right, We're made in God's image, or at least in the universe's image, Like we're all co creators, and they just gotta come around and seeing that, right, And so until they do, we're gonna we're gonna flex our you know that word flexure. We're gonna flex our black ambition. This is this is what it's about. And if you love us, man, it's

just like June tenth. If you love us, then you know that that's like a pledge that your cooperation should be a part of, or your small business to be a part of. If you love us, you see that black. You said that black colors are very interesting color because they like black glasses, black dresses, black shoes, black cars, black tent, black remote controls, like black everything, black leather, black jackets. But when it comes to the people, there's

an issue. You like black food, you like black dancers, You even like black sling. You know, all the companies give you swag. Now listen, and we love you for that. But you gotta love us back, because at night, when you up open to that sky, I don't care what color your eyes are. You see a lot of black. There's nothing wrong with that color. And it's a lot good with us. So it's time, well, has something much we love you back? Has something changed in the past year.

Is the conversation different? Is it the recognition different? Do you think that's a different conversation altogether. I'm just working on the front lines ofism. But there's there's a lot going on in the background, and I know you all see it. There's a lot. The world a very different place when you think about the fact that like everything is in the air, all the information is in the air, right, this is definitely the age of Aquarius. This is where

I get a little weird. Um, but everything is and you know, more people are work working remotely. I mean the new phenomenon of companies saying hey, okay, so finally we need you to come in, and people go, I'm really sorry. You know, I moved to like Florida during the pandemic, or I moved to Austin during the pandemic. And companies are having to change their operation hours and mandates, uh because they don't want to lose the talent to

their competition. And you know what, the workers now know that. So we are in a different time. You know, it's it's different It's like, yeah, we have an offline life, but your online life, that's life, and that has a tremendous effect, a trickle down and domino effect on everything. Every every sub talk about is being affected by that,

including race relations, including citizenship. You know what these companies have to realize right now, this is what you have to ask yourself if you're a company, Um, will you accept a black dollar? Sure? Okay? Will you will you accept a transgender dollar? Now? Some of them will pause for a second, but they say, okay, yeah, right, would you steven undocumented workers dollar? They really pro paused for

a second, but then they say yeah. But then the question, the real question, real question, and I'm done, sorry, the real quick apologize. It's can your business survived without the black dollar? Can your business vibe without the lgbt q y A dollar? Can your business survive without the undocumented workers dollar? That is the new question. This is where we are now, so Farrell and our remaining moments, where

do we go from here? Juneteenth is now federal holiday, um, but we still did not have the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act, um, you know past for an example, So where should we focus our attention and energy at this time and forgive her. It's a big question, but we've only got unfortunately about fifty seconds left here. That's okay. It was a universal question. So the answer is, just like the universe, the universe growing in all places, all at the same time. We need work in all places

at the same time. We need improvement. That's my black ambition doing better. Hey, listen, Thank you so much, Pharrell. I really appreciate it. Pharrell Williams of course UH singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, producer joining us. UH there from UH. I believe he was on the West Coast, and UH of course our own Bloomberg News New York Deputy Bureau Chief Shartilla Brantley, a really thoughtful conversation. To really appreciate it.