There are two things that have always haunted me: the brutality of the European traders and the stories I've heard about Africans selling other Africans into slavery.
Henry Louis GatesRead
It's not white versus black any more, it's haves versus have-nots. Unless the black middle-classes unite to promote the interests of the black underclass, tension between them is inevitable. What we, the black middle class have to do, is think of a strategy to avert that.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the division between socio-economic classes rather than racial differences, highlighting the need for unity within the black community.
Henry Louis Gates points out that contemporary social tensions are more about economic disparity between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' than about race itself. He argues that the black middle class has a responsibility to support the underclass to prevent conflict and ensure mutual progress. It calls for strategic cooperation and solidarity to address socio-economic issues that affect the black community as a whole.
Themes
SocioeconomicUnityJusticeCommunityTension
In practice
Example use cases
During a community meeting, this quote can be used to highlight the importance of economic equality within discussions of social justice.
More from Henry Louis Gates
All quotes →In America there is institutional racism that we all inherit and participate in, like breathing the air in this room - and we have to become sensitive to it.
Henry Louis GatesRead
In fact, the class divide in the black community is now seen by some as a permanent aspect of our existence.
Henry Louis GatesRead
The historical basis for the gap between the black middle class and underclass shows that ending discrimination, by itself, would not eradicate black poverty and dysfunction. We also need intervention to promulgate a middle-class ethic of success among the poor, while expanding opportunities for economic betterment.
Henry Louis GatesRead
The only people who live in a post-black world are four people who live in a little white house on Pennsylvania Avenue. The idea that America is post-racial or post-black because a man I admire, Barack Obama, is president of the United States, is a joke. And I hope no one will even wonder about this crazy fiction again.
Henry Louis GatesRead
Very few, if any, first-generation black or white or Asian kids will pursue a Ph.D. They'll pursue the professions for economic security. Many will go to law school and/or business school.
Henry Louis GatesRead
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