The Rage of a Privileged Class

This book is a must read for anyone that "wants" to try to understand the feelings of middle class African Americans in America. It's very open and truthful, and shines a light on a subject that many shy away from.

I find the title a bit melodramatic - although there is definitely rage, there are a lot of other feelings, too. I won't summarize the book because the other reviewers have done so already. It seems that a key problem for successful African-Americans is the ambiguity of many situations. They are pretty sure race explains why they don't get ahead as they should have, but never (or rarely) 100% sure that any given situation and/or obstacle, such as delay in getting a promotion, is entirely due to racism. This uncertainty in itself sounds enormously frustrating. What is very unfortunate is the extent to which successful people have to deny their feelings and reactions to avoid upsetting oversensitive or excessively judgemental white people, or just those whites (of which there are many) who are not as comfortable around African Americans as other whites. The too-frequent social rejection takes a huge toll, as well. Finally, there is the dilemma of raising children. Be blunt about racial injustice, or shield them from it? It all sounds tough to deal with - harder than it should be, and proof we have not arrived at a true recognition and respect for diversity, as well as overcoming the stereotypes of African-Americans as inferior. One theme that haunts Cose is the frequency with which he was told - yes, I've done very well indeed, but - who knows how far I could have gone without these obstacles to overcome? The sense of lost opportunities is stated by a number of interviewees. I wish Bill Gates would read this book and take it seriously. It seems unfair that for these arguments to really get the publicity they deserve, a rich white guy would have to adopt the cause. But I do think this book has gotten less publicity and been taken less seriously than it should have. Being subtly nasty to those who've done everything right and worked hard, in addition to being unfair, is stupid because it means America loses out in many ways.

Ellis Cose has written brilliantly with regard to the American Dilemma. This is without a doubt his best work. Cose has interviews with successful African-American men and women, including lawyers and corporate executives. What comes forth is a searing indictment of our society, and a warning with regard to (as James Baldwin wrote more than a generation ago) "the fire next time". A central theme of the work makes clear that regardless of the rate of one's acknowledges material success; racial prejudice remains one of if not the most pervasive and oppressing impacts on the lives of people of color in this society."What is there to be angry about?", one may ask. Our President enjoys the benefits which have flowed to him solely due to his Father's success at Yale. At the same time, he decries as "unfair" a Law School's use of race to assist in determining which members of this generation will get to enjoy the same benefit. One person is unabashed about his ability to enjoy the blessings of an accident of birth. Another is challenged and denigrated for the temerity of seeking a corner of the same benefit. Sometimes, seeing someone else explain the problem makes it not necessarily easier to deal with, but easier to understand (I guess in some way that leads to being easier to deal with). Often as I read this, I thought "yeah".If the "privileged class", those who by virtually every yardstick appear to be "making it" (and have the most invested in this society) have this much rage, the feeling which is pervasive throughout much of the throughout the rest of Black America is something which must be resolved. Anyone who thinks that we have got this problem of race in America solved ought to read this book.

Since the first term of the Reagan administration, tacit resentment of Affirmative Action initiatives has been replaced by unequivocated vocal opposition lead by white males who feel they are hapless victims of 'reverse discrimination.' While it is ludicrous to have expected the vestigal effects of centuries of institutionalized subjugation and prejudicial practices could be displaced by any combination of legislation, enlightened multicultural ideologies and enhanced educational opportunities in less than one generation, the arguments against continuation of structured programs to advance minority access, most prevalently in employment, housing and education have also inferred a degree of perplexity in the white community as to why so many middle class blacks are dissatisfied. The pseudo-displaced white male is expeditious in disaffirming any personal connectivity to the legacy of slavery while in the same breath, adamantly professing all blacks are denigrated by the actions of a small percentage who may behave in an antisocial manner, but failing to grasp the inconsistency in the contrasting positions. The *disaffected* white fails to understand why upper class and middle class blacks, ostensibly the socio-economic groups that most benefited from equal opportunity legislation enacted from the mid-fifties forward is discontented. THE RAGE OF A PRIVILEGED CLASS is an important work in the effort to eludicate a multipicity of issues black professionals are obliged to confront without sanctuary each and every day. With unrestricted clarity, the author, journalist Ellis Cose delineates exactly why so many relatively successful black professionals still feel a degree of disaffectedness, often in proportions exceeding similar expressions of disenchantment voiced by the so-called black underclass.Though based predominantly on anecdotal examples provided by a limited range of corporate professionals, jurists, academicians and journalists, Mr. Cose clearly indicates why progress in narrowing the racial chasm has been largely superficial. In case after case, respondents point out the multifaceted stress factors that eventually present themselves to any black american in a presumptively integrated environment. In the preponderance of occurrences, the respondent was also the sole representation of organizational diversity. For nearly all, Affirmative Action has served as a double-edged sword, facilitating entry unto the perimeters of previously closed circles of influence but encumbered with the stigma of second class consideration, irrespective of exemplary individual achievement and competency. The incumbent can never rest assured evaluation of one's capability will be based on personal performance nor is there any assurance one will be allowed to perform under the unbiased tenets of a meritocracy. Concerted efforts toward assimilation are no panacea either, typically failing to generate the aspired result while tending to alienate the aspirant from h

I read this book about a year after it first came out, but returned to it today after reading a New York Times Magazine piece on how Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill made it to the top. The reason the article made me pull Cose's book out of my bookcase again was because over and over again it described traits in Weill that experience taught me, and Cose's book confirmed would have resulted in the end of his career if he had been an Afro-American male: brash self-confidence; the tendency to explode in tirades at associates then at subordinates but make up with them with no dire effect on his career progress; a love of taking risks, etc. My own experience in the world of corporate journalism had long ago taught me that if an Afro-American male expects to survive in the corporate world, the last thing he better be is a brash, self-confident, risk taker (that will automatically get him labeled as arrogant), or a person who shows any sign of a temper (he'll be accused of an inability to get along with others or work in a team).And Cose's book is filled with interviews and observations from Afro-Americans in banking, law, etc. who describe the destruction or paralysis of their careers for the same reason I left corporate journalism. All of this coupled with the lack of access to the level of capital some of our Caucasian counterparts get access to (Weill started on his road to becoming a man worth over $1 billion today by borrowing $30,000 from his mother in 1960 as his share in helping launch a financial services firm; $30,000 in 1960 is probably the same as at least $100,000 in 2000; and how many Afro-Americans can go to mommy or daddy for that kind of money?), makes for an intractablility to the Afro-American predicament that is rarely recognized in the on-going and exhausted study of the effects of race in this culture.Add to this the preconcieved notion in corporate America that Afro-Americans simply aren't intelligent enough to handle "real work" as the subjects of Cose's book point out over and over again, and it makes a person wonder how an Afro-American can ever acheive his full potential. The insidious and subtle compromises we have to make in virtually all fields except basketball, rap, and football, are so daunting that I am now convinced that it is EXTREMEMLY DIFFICULT for any Afro-American to make a major mark in this culture and also escape major psychological damage.The pity is that Cose's book is not treated as perhaps the most crucial examination now in published book form of the issue of why Afro-Americans have problems in this culture even after being provided the best educational opportunities. Indeed I had experience with some rather well-known neoconservatives who dismissed this book because Cose talked to, among others, personal friends in compiling his observations. That anyone would qualify that as a reason to dismiss his findings indicates the depth of the dissonance on this subject between in

This book is a must read for those interested in race and race-relations, especially in the corporate world. Cose is an excellent writer, and I found the book very difficult to put down. Through interviews with successful Black lawyers, journalists, and corporate executives, Cose illustrates that material success does not render racial prejudice and discrimination impotent in the lives of people of color.Cose sums up the central problem for Blacks in the corporate world as follows: "[S]enior corporate executives and senior partners in law firms are ... expected to conform to a certain image. And though their positions may not require golden hair and blue eyes, they do require the ability to look like--and be accepted as--the ultimate authority. To many Americans that image still seems fundamentally incongruous with kinky hair and black skin."In other words, even the most successful African Americas cannot escape the American racial paradigm, which perceives character, merit, and prestige through a distorting lens of color.One minor weakness of the book is Cose's tendency to focus on African American men; women comprise a minority of his interviews. Also, while many white collar African Americans work in the less ruthless public sector, Cose gives them short shrift.For the reader uncomfortable with free-market capitalism, some of the interviewees may come off as materialistic and self-interested "company" men whose assimilationist values are defined by White corporate America. Therefore, at times it may be difficult to feel compassion for some of the men. For example, many seem to assume their credentials and paychecks actually make them better people than "ordinary" folks and are frustrated that assimilation and corporate success has not earned them more privileged treatment. (It is ironic that about the time African Americans broke into the corporate world, it was becoming less hierarchical in organization and more egalitarian in style--e.g., laterally organized teams, "business casual" dress, use of first names for even senior executives, etc. These changes mean promotions do not necessary result in substantially higher prestige within the office environment.)That said, the book is an important corrective to such works as W. J. Wilson's THE DECLINING SIGNIFICANCE OF RACE, which downplays the importance of race and racism in favor of a class-centered model. For you folks who feel your office is immune to racial discrimination and prejudice, I challenge you to read this book and see if you don't change your mind.