All diamonds are “Blood Diamonds”!

In May 2005, I wrote an article entitled Celebrity obsessed world has made actors and rock stars the statesmen of our time. And in it, I lauded Angelina Jolie for highlighting the plight of refugees, and Bono for getting rich countries to forgive billions of dollars in onerous debt owed by poor countries in Africa.

Today, I am obliged to cite another actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, and a rap star, Kanye West, for dramatizing (in the movie “Blood Diamond” and song “Diamonds…”, respectively) the exploitation of blacks and horrific violence that attend the mining and trading of diamonds.

Of course, I harbor no illusion about the impact DiCaprio and West will have on the world’s manufactured lust for diamonds. But just as celebrities who serve as spokesmen for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have improved animal rights by making it uncool, if not barbaric, to wear fur; so too I believe DiCaprio and West can improve the human rights by making it uncool, indeed inhumane, to wear diamonds.

Meanwhile, I am acutely aware of the spurious distinction diamond merchants like DeBeers are proffering between blood diamonds, which are mined in places like Sierra Leone as currency to fund civil wars and international terrorism, and “conflict-free” diamonds, which are mined in places like South Africa as gems to display wealth most ostentatiously.

Moreover, I am profoundly disappointed that hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, who has done so much to promote civil rights for blacks in America, has now signed on with DeBeers to promote the self-serving notion that it’s not hip to wear blood diamonds, but just fine to wear conflict-free diamonds. Because there’s no difference in the level of exploitation of blacks laboring under duress to mine diamonds in countries ravaged by civil strife and that suffered by blacks laboring under apartheid-like conditions to mine them in South Africa.

Indeed, just as I think it’s unconscionable to wear fur – no matter how “humanely” the animals are slaughtered, I think it’s unconscionable to wear bling no matter how “humanely” diamonds are mined.

Therefore, I reiterate here the admonition I gave (especially to my hip-hop brothers) in an article I wrote in October 2005 entitled: Diamonds: The crack of the jet-set and wanna-be fools looking to part with their money:

To my nouveau riche black brothers who have taken the pagan worship of diamonds to crass extremes: Please, you are behaving like those freed slaves who wanted nothing more than to own more black slaves than their former masters owned. Wise up, kick your bling-bling habit and use that money that you’re wasting on diamonds to plant seeds of urban development to help supplant the ghetto blight you rap about.

NOTE: If you think my allusion to crack is unfounded or unfair, consider the following lines from Kanye’s song in which he admits his own addiction to diamonds – despite knowing full-well the blood poor blacks sacrifice so that he may “shine”:

See, a part of me say keep shinin’
How? When I know what a “Blood Diamond” is …

Related Articles:
Celebrity obsessed world has made actors and rock stars the statesmen of our time
Diamonds: The crack of the jet-set and wanna-be fools looking to part with their money
Black political leadership in America is dead! Thank God for (hip-hop) mogul Russell Simmons?

blood diamonds