Seasoned rapper and actor Ice Cube has revealed he is set to meet President Joe Biden to discuss his Contract with Black America (CWBA) plan after his administration reached out to him. The 51-year-old made the revelation during an interview on the Ryan Cameron: Uncensored radio show, saying Biden and his team got in touch with him on Tuesday, February 2, Revolt reported.
“They reached out; we gotta set the meeting,” he said, adding that they’re still planning on what the meeting is going to entail and how they’re going to have it – whether it’s going to be face to face or by zoom. Though the date for the meeting is yet to be set, he said it’s possible they could have it this month.
“I would love to bring some people in; I work with some great experts who know the root of the problem much better than me,” he said. “I would love to bring in the specialists I have and the experts I have to see what we can do to start moving the ball down the field.”
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He added: “I’m available… Whenever they’re ready; I’m there. I’m hoping everything will be positive.”
The CWBA was set up by the Straight Outta Compton rapper in August with the aim of “striking at the heart of racism and [presenting] a blueprint to achieve racial economic justice,” according to Independent.
Per the project’s website, the CWBA will “provide conceptual approaches in several areas” including representation, lending, judicial and prison reform, police reform act, among others.
Also in the interview, the Friday actor, born O’Shea Jackson, spoke about the new administration’s endeavors towards helping minorities, saying they are “really into”, adding, “Black people in this country are in a unique position,” The Hill reported.
“There needs to be things as far as specialty programs. You know me, I’m all about reparations. It seems like a bad word to this administration but we gotta change that. We gotta have them speaking about reparations and add some fairness to this system,” he said.
He, however, said the reparations “can come in different forms” such as “programs, grants,” and “tax relief.” “We can figure it out,” he added. “It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. We’ll take something. But you’ve gotta do something.”
In October, Face2Face Africa reported Ice Cube got people on social media – including his fans – disappointed after the Donald Trump’s campaign adviser, Katrina Pierson, revealed the California native was helping them develop their Black Economic Empowerment “Platinum Plan”. He claimed both parties got in touch with him to about his CWBA plan, but the Biden and his team told him they’ll “address” the plan after the election.
Responding to that incident and the criticism that ensued, Cube said: “At the end of the day, whether a Democrat or a Republican is in the White House, they’re still not looking at our agenda in the right way.”
“We still gotta get them to acknowledge and remedy the situation. So, right now, they like to acknowledge but nobody wants to do what it takes to remedy the situation,” he added. “Everybody want to point out, that, ‘Yeah, you guys should be upset about your treatment in America.’”
“But nobody wants to do what it takes to fix it. So, that’s the part that we need to get on these politicians about, and they have the power to. They just won’t do it.”
He also spoke about the historic high Black voter turnout in Georgia’s Senate runoff elections, saying, “I think it’s great. We always show up.” He, however, said more needed to be done to empower Black people in the country.
“We show up for one party right now mainly and so do they show up for us as a whole? You know, not just appointing Black people to positions, but actually giving them the power and incentive to do something for all of us?” he said. “You know, right now, I feel like there’s a lot of symbolism going around, but it’s not a lot of tangibles going around.”
