(Todd A. Smith)
One of the few drawbacks of appearing on network television is that individuals often don’t have enough time to fully express their thoughts on a particular subject.
Sometimes the host will even wish they had more time for a segment.
That was the case when I appeared on “The Isiah Factor Uncensored,” which airs on Fox 26 Houston (KRIV) and Fox Soul on July 31 to discuss Ralph Lauren’s new fashion line that celebrates the style of the Oak Bluffs community of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
One of my co-panelists, rightfully, said that the new fashion line might expose younger members of the Black community to the history of Oak Bluffs and the importance of style and fashion to members of the Black upper class in the early 20th century.
When I said that I wished that a Black designer had capitalized on that era of Black style instead of letting a White-owned brand make money off Black culture, another co-panelist correctly told me that other Black designers had the same opportunity to create the same line.
Furthermore, he said that Black designers could take advantage of the popularity of Ralph Lauren’s new Oak Bluffs line and do the same in the future.
A panelist from a previous segment of “The Isiah Factor Uncensored” on July 31 told me after the show that other Black designers had created fashion lines honoring the Black elite in the past.
Although I agreed with my co-panelist who said that the new line would expose some to the history of the Oak Bluffs, I said that critics were not wrong in stating that Oak Bluffs and the Black upper class have often embraced elitism.
According to the book Our Kind of People: Inside America’s Black Upper Class by Lawrence Otis Graham, the Black elite of the early to mid-20th century, at least, were not just concerned about the wealth of Black people.
They were also concerned about how old the wealth was.
If a Black person did not come from a long line of wealth, they were often shunned by the gatekeepers of the Black upper class.
Infamously, Detroit’s Black elite shunned Berry Gordy and Diana Ross in the 1960s because they came from working and lower-class Black families, even though they had become wealthy with numerous pop music hits.
Furthermore, they looked down on the Motown Sound much like the Black elite looked down on hip-hop when it began shaping the sound of Black music in the 1980s and 1990s.
There is nothing wrong with the Black elite.
However, there is something wrong with elitism, regardless of race.
Reaching the pinnacle of success should be praised.
However, people should not kick the ladder away when they reach the top.
Those people should help others climb up the ladder, too.
There was a time when old Black money was no money.
Therefore, the come-up for other families should not be frowned upon because all wealthy families had to start from somewhere, too.
Their ascent should be celebrated.
The way the old Black elite should have co-existed with the have-nots of the Black community is the way Harry H. Pace, the millionaire CEO of Supreme Life Insurance did when he took a liking to young John H. Johnson and allowed him to use his office to launch what would become the Johnson Publishing Company, home of Ebony and Jet magazines in Chicago.
In his book, Graham discussed how only a few Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) received respect from the Black elite.
Members of the Black elite held schools such as Howard University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Fisk University in high regard.
Other HBCUs, not so much.
The Black community often takes pride in the Divine Nine, the four historically Black sororities and five traditionally Black fraternities.
But to the Black elite, only three fraternities (Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Kappa Alpha Psi, Fraternity, Inc. and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc.) received admiration from the Black elite.
Likewise, only two sororities (Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.) received the same admiration.
Additionally, if women belonged to the Links and men to Boule, they received even more clout amongst the Black upper class.
If Black people joined predominantly White Greek-letter organizations, they faced ridicule.
Furthermore, Graham talked about the paper bag test.
If Black people were darker than the paper bag, they were too dark to be accepted.
With all that history, it is not surprising that some Black people do not want the Black elite celebrated.
But what I did not get to say on “The Isiah Factor Uncensored” is that if Black people can celebrate criminality and thuggery in fashion and entertainment, then why can we not celebrate Black wealth, achievement and success?
For far too long, it seems that Black culture and entertainment have mainly celebrated gangsters, pimps and drug dealers.
Therefore, seeing a community full of Black doctors, lawyers and judges celebrated is a much-needed breath of fresh air.
Instead of seeing young Black people in pajamas and bonnets in public, the Oak Bluffs collection highlights the Black community and its influence on high fashion, class and sophistication.
There was a time in Black America when a person stepped out of the house, they wore their Sunday best.
The smallest of events required the best clothes from someone’s closet, like a woman’s best dress and a man’s best suit with a hat to match.
Honoring such a time is great to see.
But no time or era in American history is above re-examining and criticism.
And no company is above criticism, either.
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