Class divisions among Black people

[Little32]

Is there really an "Us versus Them" mentality? I don't see it, but that may be because the people that I hang around with recognize that class is so messy and really difficult to define.

For instance, I have an complicated relationship to class. I am rather highly educated, but I do not have a good deal of money. I come from a long line of educated folks, all of whom worked "prestigious" jobs and were well connected in the community (to hear one uncle tell it, I have a great great aunt who practically ran, socially and economically, the south side of Chicago in the early 20th century), but my immediate family is not particularly wealthy. Conversely, there are many people with a good deal of recently acquired wealth (rappers, musicians, and so on), who Lawrence Ross would not consider "Our Kind of People." If class is a function not only of wealth but also of education and "breeding," things start to get messy.

Because of this complicated relationship to class and my perception that questions of class are not as cut and dry as many might prefer that it be, I can't say that I believe it to be the most divisive force in the black community.

What would I say instead? I would say that what divides us most is the notion of blackness and the black monolith period; this idea that because we are all black, we all have the same experiences and must react and think in the same way. Moreover, those that do not believe (act, think, vote) as we believe (act, think, vote) are not black enough or are not black in the right way. This notion encompasses not only class issues but also issues that arise around sexuality, colorism, and so forth. This idea can be just as destructive a force to unity when it comes from within the community, as when it comes from without.