Picture this. You graduated college. You get a good job. Your vocabulary is extensive. You have been
exposed to arts, culture, and the finer things. You travel. Your musical tastes have expanded. Your tax
bracket has changed. You’ve purchased your first home. You have an investment portfolio now. Then,
you cross paths with a friend that didn’t graduate and that still lives in a poor to lower middle-clas
environment. You all have a conversation and it’s clear you are living two different lifestyles. Question.
What is your opinion of this person? What is your opinion of yourself compared to this person?
I have observed some problematic mindsets of some black elite in scenarios like the one above and it is
very disappointing, which is why I felt it necessary to shed light upon it and make sure we are all
intentional about how we move in this world and respond to people in our own culture, even if they are
different from us.
What is the black elite?
There are many definitions that I have pulled from Beyonce’s internet. I will share those and then I will
share mine.
Wikipedia says it’s “any elite, either political or economic in nature, that is made up of people who
identify as of Black African descent.” It’s also known as the African-American upper class.
W.E.B. Dubois “The Talented Tenth” he defined this group as educated men and women who ‘aspired to
an identity that reached beyond the local and the national to a cosmopolitanism that would distinguish
them both from the mass of impoverished black New Yorkers and also from the wealthy, educated—
but racially estranged — white men and women with whom they otherwise shared much’.”
Basically, it’s black people that are educated and or/successful, have status and/or money. They are also
professionals that have titles (Doctor, Lawyer, etc.…), celebrities, politicians, executives, educators and
so on.
It is my opinion that there are two kinds of black elite. The ones like the founders of my sorority, Delta
Sigma Theta and the rest of the Divine 9, that felt their education gave them a responsibility to uplift the
rest of the black community, and the ones that want to distance themselves from non-black elite and
look down upon them. I’m going to be addressing why the latter is NOT the type of black elite that you
should want to be once you graduate college and officially become a member of this group.
Why is it problematic to want to separate and/or look down upon the non “black elite?”
- Looking down on your own people is weird.
Just because another black person was raised differently from you, did not take the opportunity to go to
college or has different interests and hobbies than you, it doesn’t make them a worse black person than
you; it just makes you different from them. There’s a difference between feeling like you don’t have
something in common with someone, and that difference meaning that they are not as good as you. For
instance. I like classical music. I also like ratchet music. But if I didn’t, I wouldn’t say people that do enjoy
ratchet music are on a level beneath me. You see what I’m saying? I see black elite come into a cookout
or something like that and they make faces at those that enjoy chitlins because now they only eat caviar.
Meanwhile they’re supposed to be so educated but they don’t even know the food anthropology and
history around chitlins and that their own ancestors only had access to those parts of the animal and
that was what kept them alive to be able to even birth their parents, and allowed their parents to birth
them. They are alive today because somebody figured out how to make chitlins edible. So, it makes no
sense to look down on them now. You can just not eat chitlins and call it a day. We should never look
down on our roots. And we should never look down on black people at different stations in life. Root for
them and wish them well. You don’t even have to hang out with them all the time. But if you see them,
you can give them love instead of shunning them. We are all God’s children and we are all from the
same continent. - Treating and speaking about unsuccessful black people the same way that other cultures do, is
making it even harder for them to become successful.
I have seen black elite become successful and all of a sudden forget so many of the biases and systemic
racism that made it harder than it should have been for them to suceed. I hear them say, “Well all you
have to do is work hard,” just like people from other cultures say about our race. It is so disappointing. I
have seen the elite call them lazy and feed into the stereotype that black people are lazy, as if there are
not lazy people in all cultures and that it is solely poor black people. I was listening to a podcast about
code switching and the guest was saying that he didn’t have as much in common with black people
because a lot of his choices are different. The example he gave was financially, and that how black
people will blow money on rims. He alluded to the fact that white and Asian people are more fiscally
responsible. As if there aren’t people in other races that will spend 10,000 dollars at an auction on a lock
of Elvis Presley’s hair. Or will spend their last on a 6 pack of beer. However, when they say this around
other races, it makes them think that there aren’t any obstacles against black people and that they are
just lazy, and then the powers that be will think there is nothing that they need to change about their
policies, treatment and programs as it relates to black people and the cultural biases. I’ve seen people
say, oh well look Oprah is a billionaire so yall good, yall have made it. But let’s not talk about how much
of a feat it was or look into why there are less than 10 black billionaires. And to say the only factor that
has prevented that status, is laziness/work ethic, is completely unfair. But some black elite perpetuate it
in their attempts to separate themselves and be included in these new circles. - No balance plus blinders equals you forgetting you’re black.
Some black elite have tunnel vision meaning they’re so into the life that they are living now, that they
have completely forgotten how they were treated by the world and the obstacles they had to overcome
before they could get to this point. They are so assimilated into this new space that they forget they’re
black. And I do not mean that they still need to have to listen to hip hop or eat fried chicken or speak
Ebonics. But what I mean is when they come across another black person, it shouldn’t be looked at like a
stranger or someone they’re embarrassed to be associated with by them having the same color skin.
Just because they are no longer associating themselves with a lot of things that are known for being in
the black culture does not mean they should also associate disassociate themselves from their skin color
and the connecting fibers of being from the same culture and race. They are also forgetting that the only
reason that the circles they are now in, accepted them was because of their status. If they were not a
successful black person, they would not want them around.
How to keep from being that type of black elite. - Never forget how blessed you are.
Always remember that if you weren’t born into the family you were born into or you didn’t get that
scholarship or you didn’t get those good grades, you would be just like the people that some black elite
looked down on. There are so many circumstances that prevent some people from being able to have a
better life. Some within their control yes but also some out of their control too. Life can happen to any
of us and take us backwards. And even if we can find our way back, you’re still not exempt from it
happening. So don’t look down on anyone. - Hang out with all kinds of people.
It is my opinion that the beauty of being black elite means you can move in that many more spaces. You
can enjoy the opera, and you can enjoy the cookout. You can enjoy the step show, and you can enjoy
eating sous vide duck. There is beauty in both environments. Your biggest flex should be is that you’re
good anywhere. Not that you were no longer a part of what is being called now low vibration
environments. - Subtly educate.
You have an opportunity whether it’s with your nieces and nephews, community centers or even
through nonprofits and galas to share with your culture that there is another way of living and how you
got to be where you are. If you are so busy trying to shun that culture and forgetting that someone at
some point helped you, you’ll go back to that tunnel vision that we’re trying to avoid. Even if it’s in
conversations with your friends from high school and they use a word wrong. You can just restate the
word in your conversation the correct way without even saying anything to them directly and they
would have learned something. Have a dinner party and expose people to new foods. This gives you a
chance to connect and be a changemaker. Use your power for good.