yeah sense of community is what most older black people tell me is missing. i recently read, i think it was in barkley's book talking about alabama, that he thought one change that occured in poor communities was that people who did fuck up (drunks, criminals, drug addcicts etc) used to try to motivate people to do better than them whereas now they think it is the norm and try to drag people into it. I cant assess that statement because I'm neither really broke nor black, but judging from some folks I know and what other people who say, it may be very true.

whites are losing community too. as far as control over business and even parenting/mentoring; they are losing it just as fast to the same faceless if not invisible systems.

as for the faces, sure, a lot of it is pure faccade, same with whites "acting black" or even "acting sympathetic." maybe there is some "fake it til you make it" in there though since the more you act a certain way or say certain things, the more you begin to entertain the notions seriously or even buy into them. that's a stretch though, i'd tend to agree more with that it's just "playing the game" which is particularly sad that white people front about such things since they are often more serious issues that require much beyond lip service