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 ?
On Wed, Jul 10, 2013 at 5:23 PM, c b <cb31450 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Carrol Cox
>
> 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.