I won't deny that prejudice and certain other discrimintaory institutions continue to plague black folk of all economic affiliations, but I think that black folk who get a chance to eat are able to sedate themselves with the spoils of middle and upper middle class status.

Sure, those material gains do not allow them to escape their skin, but I think life is much less painful for the ever-emerging middle class than it is for the folks who swing from paycheck to paycheck.

The black middle class suffers a different kind of alienation, but vehicles such as psychotherapy and presciption drugs are becoming increasingly available and acceptable as a means of dealing with the hassles of breathing while black.

As for the middle class impact on the revolution, no successful revolution was ever launched without the support of a portion of the educated, accomplished middle class. On the other hand the middle class never gets involved in the revolution until their stake (their estates) are at risk. And I don't think that the black middle class in the US currently fears that they will lose all that they have gained. On the contrary, the people we currently call leaders continue to feed us a message that we can achieve if we dare to pursue the American Dream. So long as that message resonates in even a small portion of Black America, the revolution will be leaderless.

BTW, when Mos Def gets elected to Congress, it's on. Don't know if money has those aspirations, but whether he knows it or not, he is and has been preparing himself to take the reins and speak for all of us who cannot speak ourselves.

---I'm here---

Rally cry heard at the scene of the Democratic National Convention:

"Stop...Drop/
People gonna rise to the top/
Oh...No/
Let Mumia go!"

---i'm here---

"...do what scares you..." -- l. varela