Pharrell’s “non- partisan” fantasy

People were left scratching their heads after recent remarks Pharrell made during his 5th Annual Black Ambition Demo Day. The event was held in Miami over the weekend, and while speaking on a panel, he addressed his feelings about the current political climate, expressing his disdain for politics.

“It’s a magic trick. It’s not real. I don’t believe in either side. Because I think when you pick a side, you are inadvertently supporting division,” he said. “Yes, it’s not a popular point of view, but I just gotta say, when I think about it, the wells are drying up.”

The conversation moved over to diversity, equity and inclusion, and he started discussing what he thinks about businesses that hire people based on their race. According to The Root, he looked around the room and addressed Black attendees, asking them if they would prefer to be offered a job because of their skin colour or because they were the best person for the role.

“Do you want someone to support your startup because you’re Black or because you’re the best?” he asked the room. “So I think now for me, it’s about us having the best ambition, and that’s the reason why you should support these businesses. Yes, they happen to be Black and brown, but it should be based on the thesis that they’re the best, not because of a shade of skin color.”

He went on to say that if DEI ever came ‘back in style’ he’d be alright with that. But until then, he’s going to focus on being the best ‘because that’s what’s going to get you the position’.

To be clear, I don’t think Pharrell had bad intentions in his message. But I think he’s speaking as if our ideal future intended state where race doesn’t play the monumental role it does has been achieved – and we are so far from that. And by ignoring the fact that we are simply not there yet as a society and won’t be because of the very issues we see in politics, he comes across as someone who doesn’t understand the big picture. And if that’s the case, he really shouldn’t be speaking on it. By not treating this conversation with the nuance it needs, he’s actually doing a huge disservice in lending his voice to such a hollow yet powerful narrative that fails to address inequity.

To Pharrell’s point about his nonpartisan school of thought being unpopular, it is. In 2019, less than 10% of the public identified as non-partisan, which reflects a group of people who admittedly have a very low level of interest in politics, kind of what Pharrell is echoing. 

According to the Pew Research Center, in 2018, 38% of people described themselves as independents. Unlike non-partisans, this simply means they don’t identify as a Democrat nor a Republican, which is also what Pharrell is describing. I guess he’s a nonpartisan independent. But interestingly, that number of independents has been on the rise since the early 2000s, which coincides with two things - more diversity in candidates than we’ve ever seen and also, more and more hot button issues taking centre stage in the political landscape. Things like bodily autonomy, women’s rights, immigration issues and the countries we align ourselves with on the international stage. 

That brings me to Pharrell’s point about how taking a side means we are ‘inadvertently supporting division’. He’s incorrect on that because it’s very advertent. The leaders people throw their support behind, and the way they go about doing that, is often to make a point and express the demand for the stance taken by their preferred leader. Zohran Mamdani’s New York mayoral victory is the perfect example of this.

Now let’s get into what he’s saying about DEI as it pertains to hiring practices. Because if I were a Black person in attendance, I would feel a) gaslit by his remarks and b) like I wasted my money coming to an event about Black ambition only to be told that the reason I’m not getting hired is because I’m not the best for the role. Also, when was the last time that Pharrell of all people had to submit a resume, wait for a callback and make it through the interview process? 

Again, Pharrell is speaking from a place of idealism, not reality. In an ideal world, Black job applicants or entrepreneurs would have equal access to roles, business opportunities and negotiations as everyone else. But we know that that’s not true. And the discrimination starts as early as resume submissions.

Back in 2004, a study found that applicants with white-sounding names got 50% more callbacks than applicants whose names suggested they may be Black. Last year, the study was reconducted when researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Chicago filed more than 80,000 job applications for 11,000 entry-level positions at a series of Fortune 500 companies. The findings, which they published in a paper called A Discrimination Report Card, found that the typical employer called back the white-sounding applicants around 9% more than Black ones, with that number rising to roughly 24% for the worst offenders in the name game.

With this in mind, how does Pharrell account for his claims that we should want to be chosen because we’re the best for the role? Of course we want to be chosen because we’re the best candidate. But if the mere assumption that we are Black is met with the prioritization of another candidate with a more preferred name, certainly we’re already at a disadvantage before the interview even begins. How can we prove we’re the best candidate when we face obstacles getting in the door? And also for consideration, how would he fare in the resume submission process with a name like his? 

Then there’s his idea that DEI has gone out of style. When was it ever in style? For a few months during the pandemic when people urged everyone to support local businesses? As a reminder, much of that push came out of the need to get products to people. Shipping logistics were impossible to navigate at the height of COVID over fears it would further exacerbate the already dire global outbreak. Whatever progress we made on bringing equity into the equation was swiftly reversed. Here, just take a look at the president’s own reasoning on his mandate to end DEI programs in the U.S.

In addition to studies about how biases about names can impede someone’s ability to be given a fair shake in the job application process, this is also the case for even the most qualified individuals. A Global News article highlighted what this issue looks like in Canada, specifying that despite having the same education levels as the rest of the country overall, the overqualification rate for Black people is 5% higher than the national average. This is also the case for first generational immigrants, children of immigrants and even Black people with Canadian-born parents.

It's incredibly difficult to properly contextualize all of this information, but the main point would be that it’s damning. It impacts everything from one’s sense of self due to the fatigue that comes from doing a job you know you’re overqualified for, to limiting one’s earning potential, and it impedes the ability to create and pass on generational wealth. These are just some of the by-products of what Black people experience in the job market. And this  is why DEI is crucial. It’s often misperceived as a way for unqualified people to be handed roles they are undeserving of to hit some imagined diversity quota but what it actually means is that there is proper care and nuance applied to situations to ensure that we all have equal access to opportunities. To the North American dream they sold us.

There’s one other thing that aches me about Pharrell’s remarks – and it’s the narrative he is pushing when he suggests that by not picking a side, you are doing the honourable thing of not supporting divisiveness. But the political agenda is divisive. The issues at play are divisive. These are human rights we’re dealing with, after all. Perhaps Pharrell should spend a bit more time educating himself on what equity is and how it works in the real world before chalking his lack of interest in politics up to other people’s inability to succeed.