Could it be a generation thing? Could it be that the parents of today spoiled their children in so many ways(i.e. not makin' them clean up, GIVING their children money MOST of the time-instead of MAKING THEM EARN IT, etc.)?

YAH KNOW!!!! I'm like DAYUM!!! These are the kids that are SUPPOSED to make it!!! Instead, it's the opposite!!! The kids I grew up with... Ghetto games 2000... Few, and I can count them on my fingers, are where we are s'pose to be at in our lives... The other ones--crack addicts, one killed himself, have 4 kids by different men before the age of 25, homeless, strugglin' with the drug crystal meth or ECSTASY... Arrested for raping somebody. Contracted HIV thru IV drug use... Gave it to 5 different partners... Just dumb stuff. It kinda hurts 'cuz the outta of the men, their ain't nobody to date. Then outta the women, the bruhs don't wanna date so they date other women with less problems. My friends and I are always discussing that constantly because now we're at the age group that are supposed to start taking leadership positions in the city... Oh well...

Bump
 

As usual, the ol' lady is late to the party, but I bought Our Kind of People last night at a Borders in Orange County :eek: and started reading it. I'm already up to the chapter that discusses Sigma Pi Phi.

I can see where members of the post-1913 NPHC organizations would be p****d at Mr. Graham's analysis. There was also a big error in his list of NPHC organizations. The book was published in 1999, three years after Iota Phi Theta was admitted to the NPHC, he or his editor should have caught that.

It's been a learning experience for me. I want to read the chapter about black elite in Los Angeles, because I think I may have peripherally known a few of these people when I was at USC.

I purchased and read the book in 1999. Like alot of you I wasn't familiar with alot of "our folk" going to Martha's vineyard's and etc. The only folks I knew who captivated that territory were The JFK clan.
Nevertheless, I'm glad this topic was brought up because I got the feeling by reading the book that Mr. Graham has some issues. I believe (I'm not sure) that he has had plastic surgery to alter his appearance. I was trying to find a site on him about 4 weeks ago.

I purchased the book as soon as it came out (hardcover). I caught the Iota thing too. I think it's a good read for those not familiar with these type of orgs.

I volunteer with the Northern California Sickle Cell Community Health Network (by way of the summer camp). Not to long after I purchased the book, there was a national sickle cell conference here in San Francisco. So, a lot of Dr's, PhD’s, etc..were attending this event(mostly Af-American). I volunteered to register participants and brought the book with me for those slow moments.

Well, I'm sitting there behind the table reading when two women came up to me and questioned me about the book. I don't remember all of the conversation however I do remember one of the women stating that her grandmother was interviewed for the book and although she[the grandmother] was one of the MANY anonymous people quoted in the book, she didn’t appreciate the way Mr. Graham quoted her. Then the two women just walked away.http://www.plauder-smilies.de/sad/nixweiss.gif Okayy...whatever.

What I say is take the book for what it is. Written archived information. Use the information to your advantage or don’t.

Speaking in general terms, our black elite may not have the best attitude towards others in lower economic/social classes but they hold high positions in our society i.e.; CEO's of fortune 5 companies, judges, corporate lawyers, etc..If they(black elite) weren’t there, the black masses would be complaining about not being represented.

Every ethnic group of people in America has its elite. Why can't we?

FYI
It's interesting that this thread was bumped up because I just mailed off my copy to a friend in Nashville who hasn’t read it yet. :)

I didn't even realized that it was an older thread until I posted and noticed the dates:( :( . But it still is a good topic!

Re: Black Elite
 

Back in MS, I dated a guy who was, by my small hometown's standards, one of the elite. now by the book's standards, they would not b/c they were not born rich. His family lived in a big house in the "good" (read:white) part of the town and his father was the vice president of one of the few factories too. His mom was in a lot of the prominent (white) organizations and was heavily involved in the school system's politics. However, I guess some of the "old guard" didn't like her too much because she tried to join one of the "right" sororities and got denied. She hated my guts because she felt that I wasn't the "right kind" for her son. I think this was b/c I attended a state school and had a child while her son attended a HBCU that had a snotty rep as one SF stated earlier. When her son wanted to marry me, she lost her mind and started pushing all kinds of "suitable" girls on him. When that didn't work, she cut him off financially and he almost had to drop out of his fancy school. In the end, he decided that money and security and making the "right" impression were more important than love. One of our mutual friends e-mailed me and told me that the guy had married the "right" kind of girl and he is unhappy. He is in a career that his parents thought was "right" for him and he works for his father now. He also tried to join one of the "right" fraternities and was turned down. Our friend passed on some info about how I was doing and when his mother heard about it, she didn't sound at all happy that the "wrong" kind of girl is doing so well for herself. :D

for more information on The Links:

http://www.linksinc.org

I think Mr. Graham wrote a book about ten years ago when he was impersonating a waiter and worked at a country club, is this the same book?

His wife was recently featured on the cover of Black Enterprise, she's some bigwig at a telivision/cable company.

It's not the same book, Soror. The impersonation book's Member of the Club: Reflections on Life in a Racially Polarized World.

I've been meaning to read it. Since I have been reading the posts on the book, I am interested in finding out what it's all about.

I purchased the book when it first came out. I found the book to be very interesting. I learned so much about our people who were very successful - but a lot of parts also made me a bit upset. I recently gave my book to a co-worker to read. She is an alumna from both Howard University and Howard Law School. After reading only a portion of the book, she found herself getting upset and somewhat offended. I had to tell her not to burn my book! Speaking of which, I have to find out if she finished reading it. ;)

I read this book about 2 years ago and I think this man has some real "issues". Some of the people he quoted from DC and Atlanta I happen to know and I found his comments about them most disturbing.

My mom is a Link and I am an Heir-O-Link...don't ask. Basically, a legacy. I intend to join when I graduate from college, but if I am in law school (as I hope to be) my mom will be paying my dues for the first three year. AKA graduate dues will be enough for me to handle.

SHOW YOU RIGHT!!!!!!!!