Constructing Difference and Hierarchy: "The Body's Defenses Against Itself" and the Critique of Assimilation
The assimilation of people of color into the White middle class has been an important part of the thought of Black people since the 19th century. An early DuBois spoke of a "talented tenth" that would be allowed by more egalitarian structures to achieve economic success and distribute it to the rest of the community. He would later sour on this view and emphasize how capitalism required the exploitation of Black people to function. Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture) would pursue a similar line of reasoning in light of affirmative action programs championed by the Johnson administration during the 1960s, claiming that they only allowed some Black people to "make it" in order to buttress systems of racial segregation and domination. "The Body's Defenses Against Itself" makes a similar point, demonstrating how in order to establish themselves in the White middle class, Black people must mold other members of their community into "untamed" others, t...