>In its own way, this council communist affectation
>is simply elitism by another name. Really-existing
>insurgents do not measure up to the implied ideal,
>and never will. Doubly annoying is the 'shopkeeper'
>line. For reasons we should understand, blacks in
>urban areas, among others, don't have access to
>well-paying industrial or union jobs, so self-
>employment or small proprietorship are important
>resorts. Minority urban populations are not less
>worthy on this account. The "shopkeeper" rap
>is disguised suburbanite/academic class and race
>prejudice. Others have done this in respect of
>whites only, but that's a different syndrome.
Understanding why people hold the opinions they do and evaluating whether those opinions lead to promising political strategies are two separate questions. A small-business strategy, even if successful, wouldn't do much for the majority of black people. Stronger unions and a more redistributionist state would - which is EPI's position for the U.S. working class as a whole, so why not for its black subdivision? Rakesh would probably denounce that as Keynesian/social democratic, but that's another question.
Doug