sagaciously is...

This "classism" thang, it's like a dayum disease...like a fungus growing under your skin. You're somewhat unaware of it until it begins to itch. Then you scratch, only to reveal the huge patch of it underneath the surface of the skin. And when air hits it, it only grows faster.

I'm sitting in class in my MBA program, discussing global poverty and how the system of market capitalism can attempt to cure it, and someone throws out "Let the NGO's (non-governmental organizations) take care of it, and the market will take care of itself". I'm at work, discussing the flat-tax vs. income tax and the impact to the average American, and when someone suggests that this will hurt the poor & working class the hardest, someone else suggests with a shrug "they'll simply have to either learn to save or they won't survive".

Bottom line is that it's still US vs. THEM, just that US is now the "upscale" and them is everyone else. The poor AND the working class. And apathy is now acceptable. Since this isn't necessarily about race or about gender or sexual orientation, and since we live in a market-based society, it's okay to be apathetic. To quote Gordan Gecko (Ivan Boesky) "Greed is Good". Or at least perfectly socially acceptable.

I came from a working class family, two parents who never graduated from high school, and whose combined annual income probably barely exceeded my current income. And I'm far from upscale by today's standards. Whenever I see these thinly veiled references to class, further dividing a country that is forever searching for another excuse to be divided, I shake my head and wonder what's next. And we're all buying into it, and supporting it. Classism supersedes race, gender and all those other boundaries because it feeds into the American dream, of having it all, and having the greener grass to show for it. Hell, even black folks have a magazine of the same "upscale" name, perpetuating that dream for us as well.

Despite my working class childhood, I also lived in the PJ's (projects, for all you bougie folks who aren't up on the un-pc term). Lived in them for 3 years, and plenty of economically depressed neighborhoods afterward. And I can't lie - yes, there was crime. Oh, plenty of fighting, scrambling over chump change, petty arguments over perceived disrespect, passionate brawls over infidelity, and the occasional stabbing over drug deals gone bad. But I'll tell you what I didn't see running rampant: Disappearing children. School shootings. Incest victims. Serial killings. Murder. I look out my "upscale" overpriced intown apartment now, at the marginally PJ'ish neighbors across the street, and I can count on one hand how many times in the last 3 years I've lived here that I've seen them fight, or have seen the police. Hell, the crane on Pharr Road can't even claim that right this second.

The thing that makes this so striking about it, particularly in Atlanta, is that if you drive 10 miles on any main thoroughfare in the city, you'd probably pass some $500,000 homes, as well as a PJ or some other economically challenged area. So it was hard to draw the line between the Haves & Have-nots. They shopped in the same grocery stores. Not so anymore. With Atlanta's gentrification in full swing, those $60K properties that need rehabbing are being razed in lieu of $250K+ condos, and Metropolis-like developments, cities within the city. With their own shopping, their own businesses, their own restaurants and entertainment, leaving little reason for residents to actually leave their property.

The Haves are coming, to displace you - and then point their finger at you, and tell you you're not keeping up. They're drawing that line in the sand, that separates them from everyone else And they're daring anyone to cross it. There's no room in the middle anymore, and you'll notice that when you finally stop hearing the media refer to the "working class". That day is coming, soon. All there will be is the "upscale" and everyone else. And with the "upscale" taking over the cities, where will everyone else go? My PJ's across the street are being surrounded by condos, lofts and new townhomes. Where will the Have-Nots go? My new recurring nightmare is of a well-dressed couple, in golf-shirts & khakis, walking down the street holding hands, and coming across a homeless person. In unison, they both open their gaping mouths, and emit a high-pitched squeal a lá Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Then the police come out & snatch the homeless dude up....

...and take him to New York. That is where they keep "them"...right?