Challenge: Eliminating the Hate Among Us…

by Clarence E. Stowers | Apr 10, 2008 | Communication, Current Affairs, Empowerment, Race

In the black community in America,
there is a severe disconnection among those of different classes.   

Many upper and middle-class blacks feel
as if they can look down on, talk down to, and overlook black people
who are considered lower class.  Unfortunately, I’ve witnessed black
people who are college-educated, living in nice homes, driving  fancy
cars or earning a high salaries, looking down on blacks who are less
fortunate.  Lawrence Otis Graham even wrote a book explaining why
upper-class blacks want nothing to do with other blacks.  They only
want to deal with “Their Kind of People.” 

Why is it that
some blacks who have "moved on up," by working hard and
achieving the American dream feel they can distance themselves and
underestimate poor black people?  Is it because they feel they have
nothing in common with lower class black people?  Is it because they
feel they are more accepted among white people?

Perhaps it is
because lower class blacks get blamed for many of the problems the
black community allegedly has, such as speaking poor English; having
babies outside of wedlock; high dropout rates; using and selling
drugs; and filling up the jail cells. 

Is it because they
feel like they are more accepted among white people?  Or are they
just outright silly, feeling as if they have arrived?

The last
time I checked I thought most of the black people in America were
descendants of slaves.  With that being the case, we all come from
nothing.  They make brainless statements like low class blacks are
not good enough to associate or be seen with.  They even have a
website devoted to “stuff educated black people like.” 

Some
are so confused.  They go as far as talking bad about them in front
of whites. They are not willing to try and take the time out to help
or share information that will help the lower class blacks get to
their level.  They don’t attend black schools, and they move away
from predominantly black neighborhoods.

That is not to say
that all black neighborhoods have lower class black people living in
them, but a lot of blacks have forgotten who they are and where they
come from.

Black people are not in any position to look down
on one another.  We as black people haven’t risen to our full
potential.  Even rich black people are not globally in control of as
much as they could.  They are rich, but they have to be careful what
they do or say because if they make the wrong move all of their money
can be taken away in the blink of an eye.  High and middle-class
black people who are walking around feeling as if they are in a
position to look down on others need to wake up and smell the coffee.

In my opinion, the divide is created by
the monopoly capitalist economic system and social structure which
gives rise to and reinforces class divisions within the society.
Hence, classism is the effect, not the cause.  Trust me, at the end
of the day, we are all the same.