“Damon is President of Fairbridge – a nationwide charity that works to support young people in 13 inner cities throughout the United Kingdom.”

So let’s all try to be open-minded and not too judgemental.

You say that Bufinni is a “positive examples for young people - not just black kids, but all those who struggle to succeed in unequal, modern Britain”

What exactly has Bufinni done to make Britain a more equal place? Surely you are not suggesting that enriching yourself at others expense defines what we mean by the term “positive role model”?

The whole problem with this piece is that it assumes a corollation between individual success and community advancement. The USA has its share of black millionaires, more than we do anyway. Some, like Oprah Winfrey are in entertainment. Others, like Condo Rice and Colin Powell, have even reached high political office.

Yet if you look at the stats on income distribution, by race and class, you can see that the entry of some black people into the ranks of the super rich, has made no appreciable difference to unemployment patterns, poor housing and education, inner-city deprivation, gun crime and all the other economic and social problems which so disproportionately affect the black population of the USA.

“Ah, yes,” we are told, “if you work hard, you too could be a Oprah or a Condi, or in Britain perhaps a Bufinni”

In the meantime, the social deprivation caused by a system which rewards the Bufinnis of this world is crushing the life chances of the 99.99% of black people, who will never join the ranks of the super rich however hard they study or work. That’s the real issue, and if you try to seperate race from class, you do a disservice to ordinary folks everywhere, black and white.

Moreover, what moral values are we teaching our childern, if we hold up the God of Money (unobtainable for most) as the ultimate in human achievement?

Let me be brutally honest here. If money and status is the emancipatory goal (rather than co-operation and community), then let’s also hold up successful drug dealers and gangsters as role models for young people. It’s a career they have a damn site more chance of succeeding in than Private Equity, and it’s arguably no more immoral in its outcomes.

Real role models are those who look out for the community, not their personal selfish interests. Spartacus did not rebel against slavery in order to become a slave owner.