Pag« 8 Portland Observar October 23.1980 Has the Black middle class abandoned the poor? _ . By Joel Drey fuss NEW YORK - They are shallow, callous, conspicuous consumers. They could care less about their poor relatives. They are not in ­ terested in the political process and decline to use their political clout. When they take a stand on issues, they always look out for themselves and alienate potential allies. This portrait o f the Black middle class is getting increasing attention in the mass media. In television, magazines and newspapers, a deep divide has been drawn recently bet­ ween the success of Blacks who join the mainstream and those who still languish in poverty. A t the same time, middle class Black were viewed as a buffer be­ tween the Black poor and the white m a jo rity . Blacks who succeeded were held up as models for the poor to emulate. But as white disillusionment with the Black middle class came to a head during last summer's Miami rio t when it was realized that middle class Blacks have little con­ trol over the Black poor and make no impact upon urban problems such as crime and umemployment. In a recent article fo r the New York Times Sunday magazine, white social scientist Carl Gershman blamed many o f the ills o f the Black poor on “ a new class o f Black p o litic a l leaders and federally funded anti-poverty workers who became.. .power brokers between the government and the Black poor. These workers had a stake in pre­ serving the underclass as a political base from which they could threaten — and extract concessions from white society,” he wrote. A year ago, another Times magazine cover story lambasted the Black m iddle class fo r its con­ sumerism and suggested that suc­ cessful Blacks had more in common w ith the white m iddle class than with the Black poor. The argument that the objectives o f the Black middle class no longer serve the interests o f the Black poor is useful fo r a broad variety o f p o litic a l groups, from neo­ conservatives to liberals. The change o f heart has its motive in the fear of competition. Not only do middle class Blacks compete for jobs; they also challenge the political views o f the white intellec­ tual class, whose influence c o r­ porate and government policies. White intellectuals now converge in the belief that racism is no longer a major issue. They cite the work of U C LA economist Thomas Sowell and University o f Chicago sociolo­ gist W illiam J. Wilson, both Black, who argue that Blacks have divided along two economic paths: one with m obility for the middle class, the other a dead end future o f menial jobs for the poor. Few ‘ ‘ experts” have ever bothered to ask middle class Blacks how they view themselves. Thus a recent p oll o f Black Enterprise magazine readers (with a median in­ come o f $25,000) is especially revealing. The p o ll showed that three out o f four respondents did not believe that "ra c is m is less prevalent than it was a decade ago.” And 95 percent said they believed that “ whites harbor some form of racism towards Blacks.” They clearly have not joined whites in turning their backs on the issue o f racism. Another common white criticism o f middle class Blacks is that they lack broad-ranging p o litic a l in ­ terests and that the p o litic a l positions they do take are self- serving. The Black Enterprise poll suggests otherwise. Nine out o f 10 readers polled oppose "high unem­ ployment as a tradeoff to control in­ flation.” Like the majority o f their white counterparts, they express concern that America has lost its m ilita ry superiority to the Soviet Union. But 58 percent believe "that some o f the money fo r defense should be channeled fo r social programs.” One reason fo r this continued support o f social programs is the finding that many members o f the Black m iddle class are barely removed from poverty themselves. Four out o f ten o f the magazine readers had a relative or fa m ily member on public assistance. A similar study o f the Black middle class published in 1979 in Psychology Today found that 85 percent o f the sample came from working class origins, and that only 15 percent were second generation middle class. In other Black Enterprise fin d ­ ings, almost 77 percent favored a i — ..II _ -. — e - — — : C : firm — - — _ pull-out o f A American s Z" from ooutn Atnca and 85 perceant sup­ ported more Black involvement in Africa liberation struggles. On the Middle East conflict, nearly a third o f Black Enterprise readers sided w ith the Arabs, 8.4 supported Israel, ad 57.9 percent favored neither side. A majority said they understood the SALT II issues, felt they were affected by Watergate and over­ w helm ingly opposed President Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon. These studies suggest a very dif- é ferent r* n t reality for A __ middle Ja, the LI I Black class than the one currently offered by the white intellectua l m ain­ stream. Middle class and working class Blacks (the majority o f whom vote) remain solidly committed to the p o litics o f compassion that many white intellectuals have aban­ doned. They believe that social progress is possible, that govern­ ment intervention is necessary to prod the free enterprise system, and that good relations with the Third W orld w ill eventually pay o ff for America. Many Blacks have also decided that a re d is trib u tio n o f a a a m a m ■ . . . ■ a wealth is the only solution to economic inequity. In trying to avoid being used as pawns by the ideological left and right, Blacks face tremendous d if­ ficulties as they attempt to develop strategies for advancement. W ithin the Black community, some o f the interesting - and most ignorned - intellectuals have begun to look out­ side the country for solutions to their problems. They see parallels between the under-development o f the T hird W orld and the under­ development o f America’s Harlem. Some believe an independent Black economic base must be developed again with the short-term intervention o f government. Few believe that all the problems o f the underclass w ill be solved by Black capitalism. But they also understand that financially independent Black institutions could be powerful ad­ vocates o f the Black poor. Rather than reject all government programs across the board, they would prefer to strengthen the ones that have worked like Head Start and Food Stamps, and to develop new ones for specific needs. The relative powerlessness o f the Black middle class is due largely to its small size, and its almost non­ existent economic clout. The impact o f middle class Black leaders in the 1960s was based on a consensus of white liberal support. The problem in the 1980s is for the Blacks to find ways o f leveraging the m a jo rity when their former allies have gone to protect their own interests. By refusing to concede that all is well, middle class Blacks continue to serve the interests o f the poor and to challenge the convergence o f main­ stream ideologies on the m ain­ tenance of the status quo. COPYRIGHT PNS 1980 SENIORS OPPOSE P.U.D. Oregon State Council for Senior Citizens S03'M 3 3 7 4 6 I j PLS' s 1,1 ¡cn C°(JA/r;fs Xx z O f u - r QU a RTE r , v SUCH d ^ O regon rs of  T hose ATrL£CTR,-c iry s C° Up T0 pnyUF "'TH /I p [ / f F°*MATloN 4 p,c IN A p TTer