> Don't black nationalists occasionally lament the end of segregation because
> of the allegedly dire effects on black-owned businesses? As I recall, Adolph
> Reed has an essay on this in Class Notes.
Haven't read Reed on this, but as I understand it, the argument isn't just about black-owned businesses, but about black civil society generally and the strength of the black bourgeoisie in particular: Since segregation excluded black people from most white-owned and white-controlled businesses, institutions and social organizations, black communities developed their own parallel versions of these same entities. When segregation ended, the white orgs could compete directly with the black orgs and guess who usually won? The present-day struggles of a lot of historically black colleges and universities are arguably good examples of this process. I've heard versions of this argument from a few people who definitely wouldn't call themselves black nationalists.
For all the obvious reasons, I'm disinclined to embrace this, but it doesn't strike me as a bunch of crazy talk. -WD