Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Berry Gordy: Racism Influenced How He Attracted White Customers

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*Motown founder Berry Gordy says that as a young boy, he realized just how prevalent racism in America really was, coupled with a fear of Black men.

According to Atlantablackstar.com, a young Gordy managed to make money by selling The Michigan Chronicle in Black neighborhoods. It was a weekly Black publication in Detroit, and not only did his community eagerly look forward to the news, Gordy was surprised to discover white folks also wanted these Black papers.

Realizing he could make even more money by selling to white customers as well, Gordy took full advantage of this untapped opportunity.

“I said, ‘Well, I’ve sold as many Black papers as I can and I’m the number-one seller here,’” he said during his episode of Oprah’s Master Class. “‘I’m going to take these Black papers into a white neighborhood. Because people are the same!’ ”

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White consumers were just as interested in a paper for Black readers because, as Gordy discovered, Black and white people shared common interests.

“I sold more papers than I had ever sold before. I mean, it was incredible,” he said. However, Gordy explained that the next time he visited the white neighborhoods, he brought his brother along with him — and that’s when he realized “racial bias and stereotypes would still be enough to keep his white buyers from purchasing his papers in the future.”

Their perception of him changed from newspaper salesman and entrepreneur, to a “threat.”

“We sold no papers,” he said. “I realized then that one Black kid was cute. Two were a threat to the neighborhood. No one spoke to us! I mean, it’s like they saw us coming and they just moved out the way.”

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Gordy with Michael Jackson. (image via Twitter)

The realization helped shape Gordy’s business decisions later in life, most especially during his Motown days.

“My first few albums, I didn’t put Black faces on them,” he said.

He notes how one artist’s album featured a cartoonish image of a giant ape while the other had a photograph of a white couple on the beach.

“They were all hit albums,” he says.

Gordy came to understand that people of all races could love black music—as long as it was presented to them in a non-threatening way.

“That was a very good lesson learned,” Gordy adds. “It made me realize that all people are full of love. All people are beautiful. The difference between us is so much less than the sameness.”

 

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