For some time, I entertained the fantasy of 'The Beloved Community', and I have spoken about it at Cobb in the fair terms of 'aggregation'. It has been some time since I've given that idea any lip service. But there are a few things that are abundantly clear to me in contra-distinction from my efforts *towards* anything resembling an 'Afrotocracy'.
One. I have disclaimed the pretensions of the Talented Tenth, and have not been proud of them since 1986, roughly when I left college. So one should not confuse my attraction to elite blacks with any attempt to re-establish or reform any such Talented Tenth regime, formally or informally. Put simply, I like rich blackfolks primarily for aesthetic, not political reasons. Powerful blackfolks, I don't particularly care for. I remained in a quandary about that until I read Drylongso, around about 1992. So yeah I wasted a lot of time in those six years thinking about black cultural production, but it was mostly aesthetic.
Two. I doubt the existence of any particularly organized pan-American Boule. My experience suggests to me that Oprah Winfrey did not keep council with Franklin A. Thomas who had no particular connection to Skip Gates who didn't bother with Colin Powell who didn't have dinner with Art Shell, etc, etc. I think the best that can be said is that we all listened to Miles Davis, but only for a few albums.
So in conclusion, I will point you to the biggest beef I ever had with black popular opinion over the value of the life of Tookie Williams, and make it personal. I'm not trying to be part of the leadership of the new school, and had absolutely no difficulty passing up on the Obama bandwagon for all that represented in that direction. I've just been running from the devil, trying to save my soul. And I did it.
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