I have been a huge fan of "The Apprentice" since Season One. I tune in every Thursday to watch the contestants complete their tasks and I love watching the drama unfold in the apartment and in the boardroom. There's always someone you love to hate and someone you're rooting for to take it all. This season, it seemed from the beginning that Randal Pinkett, an African-American male, was poised from the beginning to be the big winner. He was a natural leader, he won all three tasks that he managed, and when teams were asked to bring a contestant over from another team, Randal was always the top choice. In addition, he has five degrees, including degrees from Oxford and M.I.T. He has a Ph.D. and is a Rhodes Scholar. He owns a multi-million dollar consulting firm and is a charismatic public speaker. And he's NICE. Every other contestant, with the exception of Toral, felt Randal should be the winner.
Randal's competition was Rebecca Jarvis, a 23-year-old financial journalist from Chicago. While intelligent and tough, she was certainly no match for Randal. Furthermore, her record as a project manager was 1 win and 2 losses. And during the final task, not only did she not raise any money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, she completely lost sight of the fact that the CHARITY was her client, not Yahoo. So she tried to appease Yahoo, and in doing so, did not raise any money that evening for the charity. She also did not go out to meet Trump when he arrived in his limo (Randal did go out to meet Trump when he arrived in his helicopter). She made some huge mistakes.
So Trump hired Randal, which was the obvious choice; HOWEVER, after he hired Randal he did something that was unforgivable, in my estimation. He asked Randal if he felt he should hire Rebecca too! He completely put Randal on the spot, and basically gave Randal the power to make that decision. I applaud Randal's decision--he said that there was ONE Apprentice, and that while he respected Rebecca's talent, he felt there was one job.
This has caused much division and uproar. Some people immediately have jumped to the conclusion that Randal was selfish and arrogant not to share his victory with Rebecca, and by doing so, he would have lost nothing. Others feel that he did the right thing, and that Trump should have never put Randal in that position in the first place, and that if the tables were turned, and Randal were white and Rebecca were black, this would not have happened.
I happen to agree with the second camp. Randal was by far a superior candidate to Rebecca. It was obvious to almost every contestant and if one were to look back at previous seasons, Trump has NEVER asked the Apprentice to share his/her victory, and in both Seasons One and Two, the runners-up were much more highly qualified than Rebecca. Kwame Jackson from Season One was a Harvard graduate with an impeccable resume. Yes, he made some mistakes on his final task, but so did Rebecca. Jennifer from Season Two was an accomplished attorney and very well-spoken, and she lost because her record as a Project Manager was not as good as Kelly's, just as Rebecca's record was not as good as Randal's perfect record. (Season Three there was no contest--Kendra was clearly superior to Tana.) So now we're in Season Four and we have a highly capable, highly educated, extremely experienced African-American male who can run circles around a young, white female, and he's put in the position of asking to SHARE his victory? Something is very wrong here.
I strongly believe that what happened here reflects the fact that people of color have to be 10 times as good just to get to the same place as a white person. It also reflects the real existence of white privilege. I do not for one minute believe that if Rebecca were a woman of color and had made the same mistakes that she made in the final task that Trump would be offering her the Apprenticeship alongside Randal. And judging from many of the posts I've read about this, many people of color, who have lived through this type of experience, agree with me.
I do not know what Donald Trump's intent was or what prompted him to do what he did. But it was irresponsible and just did more to further the racial animosity that exists in our society. He clearly felt Randal was the best--he should have left it at that.
There was a post that I'd like to share that clearly encapsulated how I believe many people of color feel about this issue:
"If you have never walked in a black man's shoes NEVER talk to us about using the "Race Card". It still is difficult being black in this country and Randall should have been left with the spotlight. I do not think it should be shame on Randall it should be shame on Trump for even putting him in that position. Each apprentice works hard for that one coveted position and I do not expect that to be asked of anyone who wins. And surprise it wasn’t asked of anyone until Randall. In the past I felt the last two candidates were even more equally matched. Closer than a Rhodes Scholar that is part owner of a multi million dollar company and several degrees and a 23 year old journalist with very good accomplishments but none that come close to matching Randall. Not use the race card? We as blacks in this country know that you have to be at least 10 times better to get the same position as a white person. Hence, Rhodes Scholar, 5 degrees including one from Oxford and one from MIT and thus being asked to share the spotlight with 2 degrees from the University of Chicago. Both impressive but be real one truly outshines the other. It was and will always be an insult that Trump even asked Randall that question. That should have never been in the first place. See it without color. Try being black for a day you would be shocked by what you perceive and what is reality in our world! No racism is NOT over and do not say so unless you have been black for at least a day. It’s a totally different world for us. "
