It's Not A Myth

Bryant Gumbel is, but Bill Cosby isn't.
Lena Horne is, but Whitney Houston isn't.
Andrew Young is, but Jesse Jackson isn't.
And neither is Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Clarence Thomas, or Quincy Jones.
And even though both of them try extremely hard, neither Diana Ross nor Robin Givens will ever be.

Elitist-someone who believes in rule by an elite group.
Elitism- The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources.




This is an excerpt from the book Our Kind of People: Inside of America's Black Upper Class. Published in 1999 written by Lawrence Otis Graham. A close friend of mine purchased this book for me but I was aware of certain African-Americans in the US that were uppity, snooty, simply because I have witnessedthat all of my life. But a group of African-Americans that came from wealthy families that resided in Martha's Vineyard were rude and turned their noses up at First Lady Michelle Obama and her family two years ago during a visit. I read about it in Essence magazine after my mother told me about it. So this book is relevant and has enlightened  me about so much; I admit there are some parts I honestly agree with and other parts just make me furious but I feel as though it is a good read.



So what did they say? What happened? Well two years ago veteran journalist Toure' was visiting Martha's Vineyard and he was writing a piece well rather an ode to the affluent African-Americans that lived there. An African-American resident said to Toure' " Michelle Obama is basically a ghetto girl. She grew up in the same place Jennifer Hudson did. She hasn't reached our social community of Washington."

Cotillion

Wow I was stunned to read this and border lined embarrassed. She is the First Lady of the United States of America  she is a highly educated and classy woman I am not saying she is perfect but I don't see anything about her I would dislike. I have said this and will continue to say that at times African-Americans or Blacks whatever we want to call ourselves we can be our own worst enemy. I feel this book is like an expose' and I'm glad I'm reading it. For the longest time I always ignored statistics saying that most Blacks in the US lived poverty and did not have an education or have attained any wealth. I will say I did not know that there were so many wealthy Blacks in the country so I have learned one thing a lot of these people are selfish and very ignorant. Maybe some these Black elitist are the reason why HBCU's cost so much besides the fact there might not be enough alumni support.

Old School Black Elite "The Talented Tenth"

What's the Book About? Debutante cotillions. Million-dollars homes. Summers in Martha's Vineyard. Membership in the Links, Jack and Jill, Debates, Boule' and AKA's. An obsession with the right schools, families, social clubs, and skin complexion. This is the world of the black upper class and the focus of the first book written about the black elite by a member of this hard to penetrate book.  It also discusses light skin and dark thing as well the obsessions with the right HBCU' well the one that count Howard, Spelman, and Morehouse. Now apart of me is actually proud that wealth exists in the Black community but what are some of these people doing to help others......oh yeah nothing but turn their noses up. Then again let's keep in mind some of these people are descendants of African-Americans that owned slaves and while others might have be descendants of slaves are Uncle Toms among other things. Now I  know why the character "Whitley Gilbert" portrayed by actress Jasmine Guy on A Different World exists.

These people could help others African-Americans achieve their dreams and help more of our people prosper. In the past accoding the previous laws of the land African-Americans were considered 3/5ths of a human being according to the majority population we are inferior by nature. So why on earth are tearing one another down and  not helping one another. Think about it..... read about it...

You can find this book online at Amazon.com or in Barnes and Nobles.