The Talented Tenth is as Good as a Dead-beat Dad.

Puffy scours to find and then support those in his discipline, and promoting their mutual enterprise. He is a part of our new Talented Tenth. At the turn of the last centuryDuBois proposed his theory that African-Americans’ collective liberation from North American Apartheid laid squarely in the success of a super talented ten percent. It is clear that this Talented Tenth could not have come from the middle class, and resentment directed towards them is misguided. America offers a wealth of trappings exclusively for the middle-class- and they are sufficiently trapped. Poverty and wealth seem to afford a particular perspective in American society. Conspicuous consumption, for example, is most apparently associated with rampant poverty or massive wealth. Ghetto Fabulous, as epitomized my Puffy, is then the most natural melding of two worlds of conspicuous consumerism. Working classes appear more engaged in modern state and national politics; the working class proxies the poor since the society largely ignores the poor, and consistently demonstrates this through the demonization and dehumanization of poverty and reduction of state initiatives to alleviate poverty. Though their rhetoric would imply otherwise, politicians primarily target efforts towards their true constituency: The rich and wealthy.


An enormous number of Black people in America live in poverty. Three times as many Black people in America live in severe poverty, that is at or below 50% of the threshold of poverty, as compared to their majority counterparts. The average life span of Black people in America is 5-7 years less than that of their white counterparts, and roughly the same as Latinos. Black women are consistently a third to a half less likely than majority women to have an abortion, which are usually done as a means of birth control . Black children are twice as likely to grow up in single parent homes, though statistics rarely capture grandparents as primary caregivers, communal parenting or other kin structures that diverge from the hegemonic nuclear format. Some studies indicate that African-American women are more likely involved than any other American woman with “assistance with child care and household tasks. ” In the United States, gender disparities in poverty persist, and the majority of single parented households are female headed. Children is single parented homes are thereby increasingly likely to grow up in poverty with all of the ramifications therein in a system that rewards and privileges wealth above health.


Until 1996, Black males were 10% more likely to be circumcised , and since this procedure is still not presented to new parents as a choice, this may have some interesting implications for race, class, health and sexuality in America. Premature births also elicit another health disparity among races in America. Premature birth of African-American children reaches 6.7% higher than Asian-Americans, the conglomerate least inclined towards prematurity . Infant mortality rates may be viewed as a cumulative gaze at the overall health of a population, since it is assumed that a family’s greatest investments in health would be geared towards expecting mothers and infants. In fact, in the United States, African-American infant and children under five years of age die twice as much as majority infants, and roughly the same as Hispanics . Coronary heart disease and strokes kill nearly as many Americans as all other diseases combined. African-Americans are 40% more likely to die of those diseases than their majority counterparts (age-adjusted), as well as sporting much higher incidences of the ensuing risk factors such as hypertension, for which African-Americans are least likely to be treated. Likewise, cancer is the second leading cause of death in America. Of those with cancer, Black people in America are up to twice as likely than any other American to die . Diabetes follows similar trends. High school graduation rates in America increasingly show few disparities, and each decade exhibits a monumental rise in the number of Black people in America enrolled in university education. A common folk-saying in many Black communities, “There are more Black men in prison than in college,” should alarm us. Yet, we areunalarmed.


Ending racism, sexism and other forms of oppression are obvious antidotes to the very real and life threatening disparities in America.DuBois faced a very different time, and place in regards to racial disparities in the Pan-Africanist world he envisioned. Sadly, the American, protestant-inspired ethic of the rewards of hard continue to evade Black people in America. Significant strides have been made, yet it is clear that Black lives are of little value tothe socio-political economic system that governs them. DuBois proposed that widespread efforts to support and raise a Talented Tenth of the population from poverty, ill-health and overall living conditions, humiliation and other consequences of oppression. This tenth shall be manifest in those with real power within the given power structure, and it was hoped that from within radical changes could be affected. It is now clear that redefining power itself is necessary for power in America is necessarily tied to oppression and exploitation. Hence, raising a population from adverse conditions inevitably exploits another population. In the entertainment and sports industries among others, a talented tenth has indeed come to pass, evidenced by massive Black dominance of virtually every sport (e.g. sprinting, boxing, basketball, baseball, football, tennis, soccer, golf,), and epitomized by pop-culture mogul Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs or. Though Puffy’s talents, rise from poverty to great riches, and efforts to create wealth may elicit envy, masses cannot experience more life-affirming liberation in daily life.


Puffy is not wholly unique; one could easily herald the efforts of Billionairess entertainment mogul Oprah Winfrey, who famously and ostentatiously works to valorize the lives of Black around the world. Oprah’s philanthropy ranges from providing schools, gifts, media attention, moments of happiness and love for rural children in South Africa, to hosting public dialogue around the very same racial disparities presented here. Yet, Puff Daddy and even Oprah cannot rectify the damage which took centuries of systematic oppression to build. This talented tenth, within the given power structure, is necessarily self-perpetuating, causes unnecessary competition and is inherently egoist- qualities that gain significant remuneration in the hegemonic value system. Massive liberation cannot take place within the dictates of power currently monopolizing the lives of poor people around the world. The success of these moguls is not to be condemned, if not for the sheer moral building that witnessing such success. Under North American Apartheid, sports and entertainment were the only industries were African-Americans were able to participate, and have done so with great vigor, dignity and excellence. Yet, experience and research show that individual success does not translate to widespread liberation.


A simply web search provides information on a range of statistics reflecting quality of life in America from health to income to political enfranchisement, all of which portray people of color in America living in a range of severely retarded conditions as compared to their majority counterparts. Nonetheless, issues such as gay marriage draw more public foray. This is not a dream deferred , rather a realistic stock taking of current trends, which portray a radically different agenda for Black people than hegemonic politics would infer.