(Sorry this is kinda long)
I have to agree with what Poplife was saying. I have read parts of Otis Graham's book and it was somewhat interesting to me that Graham himself didn't really participate in this lifestyle because his family sheltered him and he attended some "ivy league" school that didn't have the traditional Af-Am organizations... I guess I took his perspective as somewhat jealous 'cuz he didn't get a chance to live this "black bourgeois life" like so many of his peers.
Hey, Poplife, what coast are you on? I ask 'cuz I'm on the west coast. Ironically, there a bizarre kinda "bourgeois" out here. There is the "true-to-life" Black folks that have the heritage--most live in the fabulous houses in "Baldwin Hills" on the correct side of the mountain in LA... Or "Altadena/Pasadena", California or (I forget which part) in Oakland. Those are the folks that homesteaded to the west coast, like right after emancipation and set up a livelihood so well engrained in the "Hollywood-Gold Rush" lifestyle. "A Devil in a Blue Dress" addresses some of that...
Then there is the "nouveau-riche" negroes that are "classless" when it comes to obtaining items. Meaning, they can name all the most expensive items on Rodeo Drive and they probably can afford plenty of those items, but they are purely consumers when it comes to owning real property... Some folx call them the "ghetto-fabulous"... Most of us elitist don't like them 'cuz they often sell us out to the highest bidder... (OJ Simpson, perhaps)
I live more south of LA and not Orange County... The bougie black folx where I'm from are spread out now. 30-40 years ago, they use to live in one place, but now, they live all over with beachfront property. However, because of the severe, institutionalized racism, most black folx still go to this one beach probably 'cuz it was the only beach "they" use to allow "us" to go... And "they" racially profile us to this day!!!
As far as the elitist Blacks go, at least in my city, there are some that's got and there are some that's not... One woman was recently murdered by her husband 'cuz they were tryin' to keep up with the "Jones'"...
However, most folx in Cali, kinda know their "roots" and don't forget too much about it. Or rather, the cops really don't allow you to forget your place... YES, Cali, 'specially, SoCal, is super-duper racist--it like, dayum, y'all may as well be the Kard Karrying Kind with your hoods on!!! Y'all don't think so. Tell that to Rodney King...
|
Threaded Mode