Riddled with Conflict , yet fascinating subject matter

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	• Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class Lawrence Otis Graham Harper Perennial, 2000 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 256 reviews view larger image
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The Hoity Toity

A candid look into the lives and practices of an exclusive little known group, where formal and informal membership is not open to everyone. They've been around for some time and attend exclusive resorts such as martha's vineyard, venice beach(Md), and maybe still idlewild, attend schools such as howard, spelman, fisk, sc state, have exclusive clubs like the links, the boule, jack and jill, live in cities like, memphis, chicago, los angeles, ny and dc. Also known as the black bourgoisie, black anglo saxons, petite boogy, the talented tenth, the hoy foloy...and for those that are less than 21, popular. The kids attend camp at atwater during the summer months and just because you make big bucks and have a degree does not entitle you to their social cotillian balls...oh la la...pedigree is most important.

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Interestingly snobbish

Growing up in a lower to middle class neighborhood I wasn't aware of these lifestyles within my race so I was excited to read this book. I was intrigued by the groups and a bit envious of their exposure. For example I think the Jack and Jill organization is a great ideal as well as the Links and sending your children to the best schools you can afford. As I looked back on my own childhood I could see how beneficial this would have been in my life. I applaud those individuals who strive to excel in a highly recognized/respected professions like medical doctors, professors and CEOs. It is nice to see success having nothing to do with your dunking style or your running ability.

As I continued to read the book I started to get a feeling the author was vilifying those not in that circle. The snobbery continued as he talked about groups where one couldn't even imagine being a part of no matter what their current list of prestigious awards and degrees included, why, because they don't have lineage. I understand Mr. Graham is speaking from his own perspective but the picture became muddled under closer examination. In the end I felt like the "black elite" came off as african americans trying to make a name for themselves using the exclusive and arrogant rules previously outlined by the white elite in America.

I gave this book three stars because I think it is worth the read especially to those who never see lifestyles such as this in their own community, like myself. I would caution adolescents by telling them this is from the author's view. The book did however leave me inspired to take an interest in the children from my childhood neighborhood and expose them to sites and sounds less familiar to them while happily paying no attention whatsoever to the shade of their skin or the class level of their parents and this has proven to be a good learning experience and best of all, fun.

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Riddled with Conflict , yet fascinating subject matter

I would highly suggest that anyone interested in reading this book check it out from the library as I did. I am about 60 pages in and I skip paragraphs at a time due to its repetitiveness. This is a healthy-sized book and I am not sure if I will be able to read it word for word.

As a brown-skinned 28 year old female, I am very intrigued by the subject matter because I was not raised to be privy of the light is right mentality. So I can appreciate the book's attempt to explain the background on people who hold these notions of color-consciousness to heart. The author does not delve deep enough into the whole light-skinned/dark-skinned issue as far as picking it apart and exposing it for what it really is, am issue of insecurity and self-hate of those who tend to look down on lower-class blacks. But let me stop there as I have not read the entire book, but that is the impression that I have gotten so far.

I was very excited to read this book as I am a big history buff, especially african-american history. I think from this point on in completing the book I will have to be aware that the author is more or less "one of them" and his perspective may be a little tainted because these are folks he grew up around who hid from and swept many issues under the rug just as he seems to lightly brush over them when discussing them in his book. I am sure I will be able to take a lot from it with that perspective. So far I have been able to learn more about organizations that I had no idea existed, no doubt due in part to there exclusivity and secretive nature. I have heard of Jack and Jill and think that the premise of it is a good idea, but I was unaware of how snooty it could be. Geez the guy has to mention Jack and Jill 1,000 times in the first 60 or so pages I have read. Overall something can be taken from it despite the repetitive nature, the name-dropping, and the poor writing style.

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This is not the first book to cover this topic

The first part of this book was interesting, but when Lawrence Graham begins to write about families in Washington DC, New York, Chicago, etc., the book quickly loses its appeal. I was also angered by the book because I know my family would never be included in any of these "elite Black communities" because I am not from the right family, nor do I associate within their exclusive social circles. After discussing this book with my mother's friend I learned that contrary to Lawrence Graham's assertion that he was first person to write a book discussing the Black upper class another book called "Certain People" (Certain People was written by a White man) was written in the mid 1970's, which covered the same topic. "Certain People" makes many of the same observations as "Our Kind of People" and it suffers with the same problem of keeping the readers interest by referring to obscure families from different city around the country, but by reading both books you will begin to realize that the values and the beliefs of "our kind people" have not changed over the last 25 years.

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

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