Dwayne Monroe wrote:
> Perhaps I'm a bad hombre, or some sort of 'traitor' (i.e.,
> insufficiently fired up by an alleged spirit of brotherhood) but
> I must admit to being puzzled by hand wringing over this "class
> gap".
>
> Division, based upon real or imagined differences, within and
> between groups is at least as old as civilization, yes?
>
> We can be disturbed, but we shouldn't be surprised when African
> Americans behave like other human beings by creating hierarchies.
It's not news to you, or me, but it is to a lot of white people, and the subset of black people who are nationalists of the WBAI sort (or,
what Adolph Reed recently called subscribers to the shopkeeper school
of race patriotism).
Doug
^^^^^ CB: The existence of Black petit bourgeoisie is not new. E. Franklin Frazier wrote a book _Black Bourgeoisie_ ( or something like that) in about the 1930's. The gap may be bigger in some statistical sense now than in the past. Also, the Black middle class has long sought to differentiate itself from lower incomed Blacks. And "bourgie" is a derogatory term applied to that.
Criticizing/complaining about Black nationalists is a bit of a sticky wicket. Malcolm X was a shopkeeper race patriot.
What is the political significance of this gap ?