Why React to American Eagle’s Agenda When Black America Can Build Its Own Brand?

The Southern Truth
By Gloria Zuurveen, Editor-in-Chief, PACE NEWS

The latest media buzz centers around American Eagle’s recent ad campaign featuring actress Sydney Sweeney. It plays on the pun “great jeans/genes,” but instead of being received as playful, it has ignited a cultural firestorm. Critics say the campaign promotes coded white supremacist ideals—favoring one race as the epitome of perfection.

To that, I say—so what?

Why are Black Americans wasting precious energy criticizing what another group is doing with their product? Why are we shocked when corporations push images and narratives that don’t reflect us? These companies have long told stories through a lens that benefits them. The deeper question we need to ask is: Why are we still relying on others to represent us when we have a trillion-dollar grip on the consumer economy?

Yes, a trillion dollars in buying power—and yet, we still aren’t pooling those dollars to create, manufacture, and own the very things we consume.

We’ve seen it time and again: other communities come together, invest among themselves, and build lasting institutions. But since the so-called integration era, Black America has been playing a losing hand in a rigged game—one built on consumerism and capitalism, feeding idealism. Idealism, in this context, means illusions: illusions of inclusion, progress, and equality, when the reality often paints a far different picture.

Let’s not be fooled. Those behind the ad campaigns, the corporate giants, and the media machines are simply playing their part—protecting their interests, expanding their influence. History teaches us that those who control the message control the mind. From America’s own colonial roots to the present-day settler expansion in the Middle East, we see the same playbook: occupy, dominate, rebrand. The media is their battlefield. Ads are just another form of ammunition.

But here’s the truth—we are the real power. Statistically, Black Americans are among the top consumers in nearly every major market. We set trends. We define culture. But too often, we enrich others while impoverishing ourselves.

Why are we still complaining about someone else’s agenda when we could be writing our own?

If we redirected even a fraction of that trillion-dollar spending into our own communities—into Black-owned businesses, Black schools, Black farms, Black factories—we could reshape our future. We could become producers, not just consumers. Builders, not just buyers.

We must unify—not in pockets, but in purpose. We need quantifiable togetherness: strategic, economic unity. Not symbolic gestures. Not more spending for status. But pooling our resources to build institutions that serve us and future generations.

Just imagine: Black-owned manufacturing companies creating our own food, clothing, beauty products, and technologies. Our own distribution chains. Our own educational systems—funded by us, for us—not dependent on outside forces who often don’t have our best interests at heart.

Let the big brands do what they do. Let them have their ads and narratives. But let us rise with substance, not spectacle.

Pool Our Resources — Build Our Own Future

We must pool our resources with trust and strategy—not just emotion. With over $1.6 trillion in Black consumer spending, the power is already in our hands. What’s missing is unity and direction.

Let’s not miss the message behind the ad. This emphasis on “genes” is more than clever marketing—it’s a signal grounded in demographic anxiety. According to global data, birthrates and population growth are declining in several white-majority nations. This campaign isn’t just about denim—it’s about promoting population preservation through messaging.

Their message is rooted in fear of loss. Ours must be rooted in faith in our future.

We must see this campaign for what it truly is: a willful attempt to distort image and rewrite value. But instead of protesting alone, we must organize. Use their message as fuel to build ours stronger—with ownership, with manufacturing, with investment, and with unity.

“The time is now. While they broadcast messages of survival, we hold the power to build a lasting legacy. And truth be told, this land—America—is our home too. If we don’t wake up and reclaim it economically, socially, and spiritually, others will continue to take it over—while we remain spectators in a place that rightfully belongs to us.”

Don’t just get mad. Get united. Get strategic. Get serious.

Let’s turn our trillion-dollar power into tools of transformation—not just for today, but for tomorrow.

This is The Southern Truth. No spin. No filter. Just facts.