Compare/Contrast - Explication - "Our Kind of People" and "Member of the Club"

Author Lawrence Otis Graham dedicates the content of "Member of the Club: Reflections on Life in a Racially Polarized World" to his wife, whom he refers to as the "beautiful black woman" he met in the halls of the ultra-prestigious Harvard Law School. It is, however, in much of his writing that Graham reveals a secret about himself; though he is proud of the beautiful Black woman to whom he is married, there is little about the Black experience that he seems to regard as important within his life. He seems to understand his position in the world, as a wealthy Black man. However, this does little to change the fact that, in writing about his people, he is pretentious and unaware of those who are not members of the club - constituents of the Black upper crust. Because of experiences which rendered him vulnerable and full of questions, "Member of the Club: Reflections on Life in a Racially Polarized World" allowed readers to experience Graham at his best. However, his first book, "Our Kind Of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class", exists as a fitting display of Graham's own lack of understanding about his own "kind of people". Lawrence Otis Graham touts "Our Kind Of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class" as an expose of sorts; he is supposedly uncovering something about a hidden group of people. However, it is Black elite people's semi-anonymity and ambiguity which have long allowed them to survive and flourish as a class. Though the Black elite pride themselves on being amongst Black America's wealthiest, they regard outsiders' knowledge of them as quite superfluous.

In comparing the two, it is "Our Kind Of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class" which identifies, within many members of the Black upper class, the same qualities which Graham displays throughout "Member of the Club: Reflections On Life In A Racially Polarized World". In "Our Kind Of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class", he advocated separatism and a brash brand of class-bias, while he makes feeble attempts at masking those same ideals in "Member Of The Club: Reflections On Life In A Racially Polarized World".

Called "The Shame of the Black Middle Class", Chapter 4 of "Member of the Club: Reflections on Life in a Racially Polarized World", has a very misleading title. At first glance, one would assume that the shame of the Black middle class is their own problems and insecurities which come from being a class among classes. They exist as one of the smallest sub-groups within the Black race, but parts of their unique culture make up some of Black people's largest identifiers. In the earliest part of the chapter, Graham reveals another secret about himself, the Black elite, and his position on their issues. It becomes painfully clear that the shame of the Black Middle class is other Black people. On this, he says: "Cold logic tells me that it's wrong to look at my world and my people this way, but for some reason protecting my racial image has always been a natural reflex for me" (Graham, 86). According to Graham, other Black people are those who do commit crimes. Even more shamefully, Graham notes that other Black people are those who, most shamefully, do not tip well enough in restaurants. He would like for readers to believe that the only time he feels ashamed for Black people is when we perform any of these social ills. However, it is the perceivably lesser contingent of Black people for which Graham feels the most shame.

Members of the Black middle class often associate their feelings of detachment (from the entire Black race) with their shame at not feeling connected to all other Black people. But, the Black middle class would feel less shame if they were to establish a certain sense of kinship with all Black people, regardless of socioeconomic standing.

"Our Kind Of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class" is Lawrence Otis Graham's extremely conspicuous 448-page telling of Blacks who "summer in Martha's Vineyard" and participate in Masonry, fraternities, and other secret societies. The book is best fit to show Black people how not to change their position within America's sociopolitical landscape. Instead of positing that all Black people should come together and work for the survival of the oppressed and poor, "Our Kind Of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class" is an exhibit of some of the most horribly removed Black people. In reminiscing on the days of spending summers with his Great-Grandmother, Graham recalls her saying of the Civil Rights demonstrations of the 1960's that, she did not "see anything civil about a bunch of nappy-headed Negroes screaming and marching around in the streets" (Graham, 64). If anything, "Our Kind Of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class" shows that, although Black people did not work together with Whites to completely cure our lives of social ills, we also did not work amongst ourselves to effect change within society. Best illustrated in person by his great-grandmother, a fair-skinned Black Southern woman who admonished Lawrence Otis Graham and his brother for playing in the sun too long ("…which threatened to blacken our already too-dark skin" (Graham, 80). The problem of the Black middle class is that it further fragments Black people. Money is known to equate to power and in the case of Black people, those of us with the most power are so concerned with protecting it that we lose sight of the millions of us who suffer from lack of a political voice. Without the money and power to effect change, the Black middle class and poor are rendered nearly helpless in their quest for political, social, and economic freedom from oppression. This is not at all evident in "Our Kind Of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class".

While "Our Kind Of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class" includes Graham's mentioning of ideas like a website which would increase networking opportunities for upper class Blacks, "Member Of The Club: Reflections On Life In A Racially Polarized World" attempted to show that the Black upper class was not void of individuals who shared concerns for their less-financially and socially connected brethren. Even Chapter 12, entitled Harlem On My Mind: A Journey Through Harlem Rich and Poor, did more than enough to redeem Graham from the hellish reputation of "Our Kind Of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class". In the chapter, which became a New York Times article, Graham goes undercover as a struggling musician. Because of his work, he is able to see Harlem and her people both at their most trying and their most beautiful. Calling it a world of guns and poverty, of culture and privilege did show that Graham's views had changed somewhat, due to his experience. The tenement life was not one to which he could relate, but he did understand that even in poverty, the Black experience was one which should be revered. Because of the overall crass writing style which he used and the completely pretentious nature of the subject matter, the same could not be said for "Our Kind Of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class".

Though the halls of Harvard University will never be home to all and most people will never be able to afford property in some of America's priciest neighborhoods, the lives of the Black elite are a power aspect of Black history. Despite books by people like Lawrence, it is still a hidden caste amongst the numbers of Black people across the world; a world of cotillions, secret societies, and Jack & Jill will never become familiar to most people's personal experience but these things have worked to enrich the overall Black experience. If he wrote "Our Kind Of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class" and "Member Of The Club: Reflections On Life In A Racially Polarized World" with that in mind, there would be a less conspicuous air given to the experience, and readers would be able to take suggestions for growth of the entire Black community. While my understanding of my place in the Black community has not been improved by Graham's work, both books have given me inspiration for the leadership, which does need to be taken in order for my community to improve and come together as a whole. People like Lawrence Otis Graham could do more to change Black people's lives, for the better, by taking a more holistic view on their individual experiences.