The black community now in many ways divided itself the way the larger white community divides itself, over class issues. And that race is no longer the bond that it once was. That's one of the prices you pay for progress.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
In fact, the class divide in the black community is now seen by some as a permanent aspect of our existence.
One of the prices that we pay for integration was the disintegration of the black community.
It's not white versus black any more, it's haves versus have-nots. Unless the black middle-classes unite to promote the interests of the black underclass, tension between them is inevitable. What we, the black middle class have to do, is think of a strategy to avert that.
Well, certainly one of the ironies of the success of affirmative action is that the middle class within the black community no longer lives within 'black community' by and large.
The black population now consists of two distinct classes-the middle class and the poor.
I think the black community is no different from any other community. We need to take responsibility for how we live together. We need to be personally responsible for keeping our streets clean, our schools safe, and our houses peaceful.
The black community has been the foundation of the progressive community in this country for a long time.
What I think is different today is the lack of political connection between the black middle class and the increasing numbers of black people who are more impoverished than ever before.
Since the day Martin Luther King was killed, the black middle classes have almost quadrupled, but the percentage of black children living on or below the poverty line is almost the same.
There is a tendency to want to treat blacks as a monolithic socioeconomic group.
No opposing quotes found.