CNN will be airing a special hosted by Soledad O'Brien on the 20th called "Almighty Debt." One of the excerpts featured on their website is an interview with Julianne Malveaux. Here's the link.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/09/23/inam.trailer.almighty.debt.cnn
Basically, the topic of discussion is the difference between middle class income and middle class wealth in US America today. Malveaux explains that some families come from a wealthy background; they have a cushion for hard economic times such as these. Other families, many African American families, have no such luxury. Many people are earning middle class wages currently, but if they lose their jobs they are in trouble.
This clip was interesting to me in a couple of ways. The first is that it is a mainstream acknowledgement of the intersections of racism and classism in US America. This interview highlighted one of the ways in which institutionalized racism exists in our nation.
This interview also seeks to dispel the myth of the American dream. For some, there truly is no way to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. Even when we begin to make middle class wages we are not truly up. I feel that acknowledging this is a big step.
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