Sunday, July 12, 2009

Common Heritage ?

So, only a woman who looks like this can be called a "Real Black"?

Let's go Old School and try to define the point of separation in Black society.
Does this woman still get to be Black?

What about the middle class to upper-middle class Blacks who would vacation at the Inkwell on Martha's Vineyard?

Or is Martha's Vineyard a nice place to define today's separation point of Blackness?
Why are Blacks the only group to ostracize it's successful members from their race?
Doesn't this add a disincentive to doing well?
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8 comments:

  1. FreeManJuly 13, 2009 at 1:37 AM

    We aren't the only ones to ostracize the successful in our race. Whites do it everyday as they talk down to their own who go to Nascar as drunk rednecks. Then the downtrodden call the rich upper class snobs.

    We aren't doing anything different than anyone else its just we are small group under a microscope. When Joe the Plumber got his 15 minutes of fame was he indicative of white success or of the poor ignorant whites. We do the exact same thing it's just people keep trying to say it's wrong like we are the only one when it's just American culture.

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  2. brohammasJuly 13, 2009 at 7:41 AM

    FreeMan is right. Its not a black thing or a racial thing, its class distinction. Russia, France, and China all had rich vs. poor revolutions.
    When I was a teenager and we used to play mailbox baseball we felt justified destroying others property because we only did it in rich nieghborhoods.

    All people have a strange tendency to both resent and idolize the rich.

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  3. Max ReddickJuly 13, 2009 at 7:44 AM

    Can't add much to this conversation. I agree with the previous commenters. Ironically, in a country touting the absence of a class hierarchy, class still plays a big part in our respective worldviews. And there still exists a adversarial relationship amongst classes.

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  4. DPizzJuly 13, 2009 at 6:11 PM

    I'll be the fourth to agree that I don't believe this issue is limited to the Black community, though it does seem more pronounced, but that might be attributable to Freeman's point about being under the microscope. I think urban culture (primarily black culture) is so tied to mainstream pop culture that our issues are more highlighted and visible than perhaps other group's. Also agree that it probably is rooted more in class than anything else.

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  5. Mr. NofaceJuly 13, 2009 at 9:49 PM

    Echoing previous comments, I don't feel like the black community is the only one to participate in such behavior. I will say this though, it's seems like the those counted among the talented tenth (in any community, but especially the black community) strive to separate themselves from the rest of their "folk" to the same degree as those "folk" seek to ostracize them.

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  6. uglyblackjohnJuly 13, 2009 at 10:19 PM

    "I will say this though. It seems like those counted among the talented tenth (in any community, but especially in the black community) strive to separate themselves from the rest of their "folk" to the same degree as those "folk" seek to ostracize them."

    Ding - ding - ding.
    Winner, winner - Chicken dinner!
    (Should have known Mr. NoFace would get to the heart of the problem.)

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  7. uglyblackjohnJuly 13, 2009 at 11:23 PM

    Or should I say the true intent of the last few posts?

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  8. KristinJuly 14, 2009 at 6:08 PM

    Interseting... however as freeman and brohammas have already stated this is far from a racial issue this is a socioeconomic issue. The belief that black people especially black people do this is another fallacy.

    UBJ this is shaping up to be a great discussion. I see where you are going with your posts but... Let's put it this way hispanics are grouped via ethnicity rather than race because there many varying cultures. Would change black from race to an ethnicity assuage the conflict over this issue?

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