Michael Moore: Black Middle Class Doesn't Respond To Poor Blacks
White guys like Michael Moore make me nervous because I've seen so many white liberals start out well-intentioned and go on to think they know more about Black people and what we need than we do. That said, I'm impressed by Moore's work and his inclusion of Black people in his movies, especially Black leaders, who are often overlooked by the mainstream white media. How many of us would know what happened with the Congressional Black Caucus and the Al Gore vote were it not for Fahrenheit 9/11?
In a recent interview with Latin American News Agency Prensa Latina, Moore says something controversial about the Black middle class.
- Changing the subject. Is there a Puerto Rican, Cuban and black lobby?
"I think there are four Puerto Rican congressmen in New York, New Jersey and Chicago. There are others of Cuban origin who mainly work for the blockade of Cuba and to increase their fortunes.
"There is a black caucus, a Mexican one. The latter is the strongest among Hispanics, because there are 12 million illegal Mexicans and eight million legal immigrants. Fifty percent of Latin immigration in the United States is Mexican and they have power.
"We can say that the black caucus is mostly liberal, although there is a strong black middle class that does not respond to the interests of the black poor and divides that minority.
"The problem of any minority lies in the power of the larger Anglo-Saxon society. That raises fear of identity and culture, but there is the barrier of language that mainly rests on the elderly.
- Do they keep traditions?
"In the Cuban case, dominoes, gastronomy, music and that kind of things.
The elderly put up strong resistance to assimilation."
Can anyone argue that Moore is right about the Black middle class?
6 comments:
I have often wondered at the notion of "African American culture." Typically, what defines a culture? I would say things like language, dress, food, music, and art -- at least to name a few things.
Is there an African American language, dress, food, music, and art?
How should it be defined?
Is corporate success in mainstream (read "white" or "corporate") US culture related to the exhibition of mainstream cultural traits?
While Moore is white, he is also a product of working class Flint, and rubbed elbows with working class and poor folks of all races. Some may think he is out of line to speak on black issues, but he has certainly earned the right to speak about poverty and the poor.
That said, couldn't it also be said that the white middle class ignores the problems of the poor? Perhaps to a much greater degree than the black middle class?
Que??????
Can anyone argue that he's wrong?
There's no such thing as black culture. Black Americans and White American eat the same food, listen to the same music, wear the same clothes and SPEAK THE SAME LANGUAGE. Only immigrants bring and maintain their culture to the U.S. and occasionally it rubs off on us black and white Americans. Americans have no culture. Whatever is trendy and today is American culture. And blacks and whites are exactly alike. Black culture--though not black history (and everybody has a history)--is a myth.
Anonymous - Blacks are the only Americans who HAVE culture!!! True, we whites don't.....sounds like you're blinded by your own reality.
Dean - Black culture totally is defined and is thriving. There are slews of black authors, but to name a few...there is Zora Neale Hurston and Nella Larsen and poets such as Langston Hughes, Claude McKay, and Countee CullenArt, , Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B DuBois. Music;What about the Harlem Renaissance? What about Jazz and the blues? Blacks invented these two musical genres! What about soul food? The list of cultural definitions goes on and on but I won't.
Nate- Moore hits the nail on the head in my opinion.
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