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Class is a very uncomfortable topic for all Americans and
I think it's especially uncomfortable for black Americans.
I think it's offensive to some people to think that there
is a class structure in black America. I think that's probably
rooted in the fact that minorities who have been oppressed
in America do not ever want to be perceived as oppressive.
—Carlotta Miles, psychiatrist
Although often unnoticed by the media and by a large portion
of both white and black society, the number of African Americans
who can be labeled middle-class (either because of income
or education) has risen to more than 50%. Largely invisible
or condescended to by whites, and deemed "bourgie" (for
bourgeois) and inauthentic by many working-class blacks,
middle class African Americans navigate a particularly complicated
web of race and class relations, torn between their aspirational
instincts and the reality that skin color still rules in
America. Against the backdrop of the Delta Cotillion in
Charlotte NC, where aspiring young women are "presented"
to the African American community, we hear about what it
means to be middle class and black, including novelist Benilde
Little ("My white boss said to me, 'Oh, I know, you're Cosby
Show black'"), graduate student Daria Smith ("I don't think
I've ever dated anyone who wasn't in the Ivy League...well,
maybe one or two") and banker Valerie Beal ("Every other
group is encouraged to strive. Why should we be any different?")
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