Dr. Randal Pinkett, Phd. is The Apprentice 4

Congratulations to Dr. Randal Pinkett, Ph.d for winning The Apprentice 4. That’s the show on NBC where Donald Trump puts 18 candidates through an extensive 13 week job interview. After different tasks he eliminates them one by one with the infamous line, “You’re Fired!”

Even before his win, Randal was a positive role model for Black America and its youth.
Check out his website at: http://www.randalpinkett.com/.

But, Randal is not just another Apprentice, he is the first Black Apprentice. The win should have been a glorious occasion for Randal. His hard work paid off and if you followed the show there was no question that he truly deserved the win. But the joy of the win was soured, when after he was hired, Mr. Trump stopped the fanfare and asked Randal if he would hire the runner up, Rebecca. Randal said no, as there was only supposed to be one Apprentice. I’ve watched all four series and wonder why Mr. Trump chose to ask Randal that question. He never asked any of the other three winners that question. In fact Mr. Trump himself has said over and over again that there can only be one apprentice.

After the stumper question Randal said, "I firmly believe this is The Apprentice. ...That there is one and only Apprentice and if you're going to hire someone tonight, it should be one. This is the Apprentice, not the 'Apprenti.” Randal was right and why should he ruin or share his win. Knowing how finicky Mr. Trump is he could have turned around and said, “Well then Randal you’re fired and Rebecca you’re hired!” Only the Donald knows what he’ll pull out of his hat. This season saw many surprised including four apprentices fired at once.

Rebecca proved to be a strong candidate but in no way did she come close to matching Randal. Randal is extremely well educated, nice, well mannered and smart. Like Mr. Trump said you can rarely meet such a person. He won all of his three challenges and garnered respect from all his teammates. Rebecca lost two of her challenges and the one she won, Randal was her assistant. On the final challenges, Randal raised $11,000 for charity while Rebecca raised $0 yes, not a penny!

Judging by the chatter on the net since Randal’s win, this has now turned into a race issue. A lot of white people are angry that Randal ‘denied’ Rebecca a chance for a job. Then again a lot of white people are angry at Trump as well for the stumper. But don’t forget that Randal didn’t deny Rebecca a job as everyone knows that Rebecca could be hired anyway, its Mr. Trump’s company. He can hire her if he wants, but why should it spoil the limelight for Randal. Is Miss America asked to share her title with the runner up. What about athletes? I say kudos to Randal for standing his ground.

Looking back at past Apprentices, in the first series, Kwame, a talented and skilled Black man came runner up to Bill, and many thought Kwame should have won. Bill wasn’t asked if he would hire Kwame.

In Series 2, there was black guy called Kevin who was also oustanding, but he came in number 4, and many felt that he was shorted of the win. Then in Series 3, there was a black guy called Craig, who was robbed of the win. Craig came in number three, even though he came up with so many creative money making ideas it was incredible. And I’m sure the company’s he worked with made money off his ideas. Yet in the end, Mr. Trump let some snooty white CEO’s tell him the Craig wasn’t educated enough for the job. It all boils down to the fact that in America the black man has to work five times harder than the white man in order to be seen as doing something.

And to be honest a lot of people including myself were angry at the Donald because it seemed that he would never give a black person a chance to be the Apprentice. He proved us wrong but at the same time we’re left in dismay. No we wonder if Mr. Trump didn’t feel a black man could have the title to himself, or he couldn’t handle the job himself. We’ll be wondering for a long time why Mr. Trump asked that unfair question.

There is no doubt in my mind that Randal was the clear winner of The Apprentice 4 no matter what anyone says. Rebecca has already been offered high profile jobs and many other companies are making her offers to ‘amend’ her loss…the loss of a white woman to a black man.
Yes, America is still a racist society, though it is more subtle than in the past. And to the white folks who tell me, get over it, I say, paint yourself black for a week, try and live your same life and see if you still feel the same afterwards