Doug: "There is now a nontrivial black professional/managerial class. Such a thing barely existed just a generation ago. Not everyone has taken this on board."
Black Agenda has " taken this on board." A Black Agenda panel at the last Left Forum may be available on line now.
Carrol
^^^^
CB: Let's get rid of the notion that you and the Black Agenda are the only leftists including Black leftists aware that there are "non-trivial" Black professionals and petit bourgeoisie. You are wrong that they were a trivial _strata_ ( not class) in the past.. Several years ago here on LBO-talk we discussed _The Black Bourgeoisie_ from the 1930's. There is also _The Mis-education of the Negro_ from that period. W.E.B. Dubois', _The Philadelphia Negro_ records Black middle strata ( not class) in Philadelphia. Check out Black Wall Street. Black "petit bourgeoisie", business owners and professionals are not new and were not trivial in the past . One thing Black nationalists protest about integration is that it led to the destruction of many Black owned businesses.
But Black professionals aren't much properly separated from white professionals and petit bourgeoisie. Black workers don't constitute a "class" or even a "stratum" separate from Black workers. They are all the same class, just separated by white supremacy. So, why should Black professionals constitute a separate stratum than whites, let alone a class ? They are a racially oppressed section of the petit bourgeoisie.