To All Working Middle-Class Blacks Folks That Agree With Cosby and Obama – Let’s Talk About Those Other Four Fingers
Posted on July 18, 2008 by Ed
“The man who points his fingers at everyone else got four other fingers pointing back to himself”
“Stand” by Arrested Development, Album: Since the Last Time
Let me keep this short and simple – why most of you middle-class (actually working class) Black “arrived” characters end up turning 36 and still stuck at some dead-end white collar job trying to act young and ish? You knew you were suppose to save money and get out on your own because you knew about that glass ceiling when you got in the workforce.
Poor people are poor people. But you cats working these nice jobs had the opportunity since graduating college to put aside money to make side-hustle to full-hustle moves. You freaking 36 now and still waiting on a paycheck, what happened to Plan B? And in case some of you personal cats were wondering, yeah, I’m looking at your old ass at the workplace knowing you made decent cheddar over the years but wasn’t responsible enough to make sure your Black ass wasn’t pressed against that glass ceiling when you turned 40.
In case you forgot, you were the one the Black community and your Black family nurtured hoping to bring back more capital to lift up the community. But you took a fixed salary job with single digit raises, got stagnant, just happy you driving a Cadillac Escalade or Chrysler 300 you will have paid off or lease return after two years.
I see poor people transcending to middle-class, but I’m damn sure ain’t seeing a lot of middle-class transcending up to the empowered entrepreneurs. So let’s keep it real – who is the real biggest letdown in the Black community? I’ll give you a hint: look at those other four fingers when you point at underprivileged disaffected Black people when Barack Obama or Bill Cosby talks.
We can really go there with the “irresponsible Black people” ish with some of you pro-Cosby characters if you want to run that debate. Because if we going to discuss opportunity-invested/opportunity-lost ratios or ROI, working middle-class Blacks are the biggest disappointment and most irresponsible hands down in terms of holding the Black community back from real socio-economic progress.
Comments (12)
Deep.
True.
Please preach brother. That is so true. I am 33, and the nightmare scenario that you outlined above is my worst fear; that keeps me motivated to get something off the ground.
I recently wrote two posts stating similar beliefs. Middle class Blacks spend all the time in the world acting like the “cant do right Negroes” are holding back the Black community.
All the “bad Blacks” could stop watching BET, living in the ‘hood, stop having kids out of wedlock, act “right” and we would still be in the same state we’re in now. Not on top. Poor Blacks aren’t stopping us from being CEOs, entrepreneurs and media moguls.
To be so educated, there sure is a lot of stuff the Black middle class doesn’t know. And its proven everyone time someone says something on a blog and a bunch of people come in commenting “ooh, I didn’t know that.”
That ish was RAW!
LMBAO!
Mind if I cross post? I will link back of course.
Everyone needs to read this ish!
I am a fan of D&H. You have challenged me to look at some things from a different perspective. Or simply just look at some things I never really paid attention to before.
That’s why I don’t give a f*ck about the grumpy ass always criticizing older blacks. And that’s why Michael Eric Dyson is so popular… He can constructively criticize us and still highlight the great attributes of us.
Preach on….this is so true. I am about to be 30…and just looked at my savings account the other day….so sad. : (
jone u know how i feel bout all them poly tricksters
Here is the thing that they don’t realize..agreeing with the wealthy is false class consciousness. They have more in common with the working poor than they ever will with the rich elites.
One of the things that upsets me the most is the false idea that the working class are not hard workers. Many people working minimum wage jobs often have to have more than one job to pay the bills, to them 40 hours per week would be a luxury. It is the system that impoverishes. It is set up to make sure that certain bodies are not only born into poverty but remain in poverty. The way that we value certain jobs in terms of remuneration is ridiculous.
The problem with the whole scenario is that we were conditioned to think we needed to be like them to be successful. That’s why the 35 year old brother who should know better by now thinks he needs to get the Escalade. But the problem with that is that we were never taught to play the games by the rules that the other man wins by. We still think it’s about getting a good education, getting a good job, and getting your piece of the American pie. But that’s not the way the winners of the capitalism game roll. Did you ever see Bill Gates riding on 24’s, flaunting his wealth and status by depreciating his assets. We are just as bad as Obama and Cosby when we engage in the divide and conquer game. It shouldn’t be the middle class Blacks against the poor Blacks. We’ve got far too much ignorance in common to be scrabbling between ourselves.
But the problem with that is that we were never taught to play the games by the rules that the other man wins by. We still think it’s about getting a good education, getting a good job, and getting your piece of the American pie.
I’ve recently come to this revelation myself. Not that I didn’t “know it” intellectually but I really know it now. It’s also making me rethink what I tell my sisters and daughter about how to “make it” in this world.
This is my first time reading your blog. And I enjoyed it for the most part. But you REALLY have something against Middle class Blacks. This seems like the same type of mentality that teased me as a child. “You act white… you talk white… You think your better…” I thought now in my 30’s that was done. But this seems like the same kind of hatred in adult packaging.
And if you aren’t seeing the the Black Middle class transcending up to the empowered entrepreneurs then maybe you don’t now the right people.