A Revolution In Black Politics

What if someone gave a convention called “Black America Today” and Barack Obama, Harold Ford, Cory Booker, Bill Cosby, and Juan Williams starred as the marquee names?

Er... What about Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and the stalwarts of the Congressional Black Caucus?

That’s just the point. There’s a new generation coming up in black politics, one that doesn’t live by the narrative of the civil rights movement.

And it’s not just in black politics, but in the economy generally. Rising black professionals and businesspeople just don’t see everything through the lens of racial oppression.

It’s a huge article, so make some time and read the whole thing. The money graf?

For a younger generation of blacks, the symbolic, I-marched-with-Martin politics, not to mention the Jackson-style cronyism that it often degenerated into, doesn’t cut it... Instead of rights activists and ministers, many of these newcomers are lawyers or businessmen. Even though a few grew up poor, they’ve all spent their formative years swimming in the mainstream, including major universities, corporations, and law firms, and they are now solidly middle class.

Here’s how Vanderbilt political science professor Carol Swain (Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress) puts it.

[The new generation] had white friends; they’ve had white girlfriends. They may still be frustrated by racism at times, but they’re functioning fine in the world they’re living in.

Using the developmental psychology of Clare Graves, we would say here at Road to the Middle Class that many blacks have left the world of red victimhood and power obsession. Now they are blue purposives and orange achievers. That makes a difference.

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Christopher Chantrill blogs at www.roadtothemiddleclass.com. His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.