#mid

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 Gates

#among #basis #betterment #between #black

The most ironic outcome of the black Civil Rights movement has been the creation of a new black middle class which is increasingly separate from the black underclass. ↗

— Henry Louis Gates

#black #civil #civil rights #civil rights movement #class

Well, certainly one of the ironies of the success of affirmative action is that the middle class within the black community no longer lives within 'black community' by and large. ↗

— Henry Louis Gates

#affirmative #affirmative action #black #black community #certainly

You can say I had a severe case of 'Roots' envy. I wanted to be like Alex Haley, and I wanted to be able to... do my family tree back to the slave ship and then reverse the Middle Passage, as I like to put it, and find the tribe or ethnic group that I was from in Africa. ↗

— Henry Louis Gates

#africa #alex #back #case #envy

If we wait for the U.S. to do something, we will be waiting for a very long time. It's Europe, it's Australia, it's the other developed and middle developing countries that have got to do the job. ↗

— Susan George

#countries #developed #developing #europe #got

This erosion of the middle class is happening all over the place. The opening of a wider gap between rich and poor is always accompanied by such a process. ↗

— Susan George

#always #between #class #erosion #gap

Human behavior in the midst of hardship caught my attention very early on, and my first stories were all pictures, no words. ↗

— Wally Lamb

#behavior #caught #early #first #hardship

In middle school, I really didn't have music, but in high school, I remember taking a lot of choir and drama. ↗

— Adam Lambert

#drama #high #high school #i #i remember

Those shows I did with Queen were pretty surreal. I was really excited and super-flattered, but intimidated at the same time. ↗

— Adam Lambert

#excited #i #intimidated #pretty #queen

We can't understand when we're pregnant, or when our siblings are expecting, how profound it is to have a shared history with a younger generation: blood, genes, humor. It means we were actually here, on Earth, for a time - like the Egyptians with their pyramids, only with children. ↗

— Anne Lamott

#blood #children #earth #egyptians #expecting