Karen Hunter used a viral moment from daytime television to make an indisputable argument about Black and Brown innovation during a recent episode of her SiriusXM Urban View program, The Karen Hunter Show.
During a Black History Month segment, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist revisited a clip from The Jenny Jones Show in which racism was challenged with facts.
“If you’re really going to be a racist, then you should be a true racist and not use anything that was invented or created by Blacks,” the clip declares before listing everyday items such as the traffic signal, refrigerator, elevator, air conditioning, mailbox and ironing board.
Hunter expanded on that list, naming inventions tied to medicine, transportation, household labor, and recreation.
“We’re not even going to talk about blood plasma,” she said, later adding GPS, the pacemaker, the light filament, the gas mask, the golf tee and even the Super Soaker. “I could be here all day.”
Her point was not that Black people invented everything, but that innovation often came from necessity from living under such brutal conditions.
“Necessity is the mother of invention,” Hunter said. “So if you are tasked with doing everything, you’re going to come up with a way to do things.”
She emphasized that many contributions went uncredited because enslaved and marginalized people were barred from holding patents, though some still managed to secure them despite systemic racism. “This is not to beat a chest and say, ‘Look how great we are,’” Hunter said. “This is to say that when you are forced into situations, this is how you know what you’re made of.”
Hunter framed survival itself as a form of achievement. “Most people would crumble under what people endured,” she said. “So those that survived it, you’re magic.”
She closed with a challenge that moved beyond history. “You’re here,” Hunter said. “Now, what are you going to do about it?”
The Black History Month, Karen Hunter’s premium apparel line, The Global Majority, is highlighting one of her most popular drops, Freedom Isn’t Free.
