Jack & Jill Politics

hat tip – BookerRising

From The Root:

Our Kind of Vacation
The class warfare debate that breaks out every summer when black people head to Martha’s Vineyard always misses the point. For most people, Oak Bluffs is about family tradition.
By: Bijan C. Bayne | Posted: August 24, 2009 at 3:48 PM

As the first family heads to Martha’s Vineyard for their first first-family vacation, the island is still all aflutter over cultural critic Touré’s New York magazine feature characterizing black Vineyarders as a bunch of self-segregating snobs.

Blacks who make the island off the coast of Cape Cod their summer home have not felt this misunderstood since Lawrence Otis Graham’s Our Kind of People cited intraracial class division and snobbishness, and name-dropped the rich and powerful. As a lifelong Vineyarder, I can tell you that neither writer captures the nuances of the island’s appeal to black Americans. If you haven’t been there before, you might think that black Vineyarders are all elitist, insensitive and economically monolithic. People bring their own perceptions and personal context to Martha’s Vineyard.

The thing is, the Vineyard never started out as a buppie haven. It’s far from it. The majority of the earliest black summer visitors to Martha’s Vineyard were the families of late 19th-century laundresses and hairstylists working for white Bostonians. In his article, Touré notes that Shearer Cottage was the first black-owned inn. But it wasn’t the first, nor was it the only one. Blacks of varying professional backgrounds shared their homes before Shearer Cottage. Some of these thrifty folks saved enough to purchase the guest cottages of their employers. They, in turn, invited their friends—chauffeurs, doormen, butlers—to stay with them. And in time, Oak Bluffs became the destination spot for black folks. Black Bostonians, and to a lesser extent, New Yorkers, from all walks of life, called Oak Bluffs their summer home. Blue-collar workers, merchant marines, schoolteachers, housewives, itinerant artists and part-time actors mingled; their children and grandchildren became lifelong friends.

Self-segregation was never part of the equation. Martha’s Vineyard, and specifically Oak Bluffs, provided black families with a place of respite and recreation when few other places fit the bill. The summer population of Oak Bluffs was 50 percent black way before the Vineyard was thrust into the national spotlight via Sen. Edward Kennedy’s accident at Chappaquiddick, the filming of the blockbuster Jaws and visits by Clinton family. It is only natural that such a legacy would later appeal to the Spike Lees, Charles Ogletrees and Vernon Jordans of the world.

Many of the names and celebrities both Graham and Touré cite as examples of a self-segregating black elite have only been visiting Martha’s Vineyard since the early or mid-1990s. Though much of the black summer population is professional or white-collar, they do not exclusively socialize with black folks. Black Vineyarders attend or host cultural events, party, play sports and cook out with black and white friends and colleagues. They also hang out with black or Cape Verdean year-round residents. (Oak Bluffs’ per capita income in the 2000 census was $23,829, with much of the economy being seasonal.) Even if Vineyard blacks were seeking an escape from whites, they wouldn’t find it there. You’re more likely to find all-black summer enclaves in the historically black beaches of Maryland, South Carolina and Florida than in coastal New England.

Rest of article at link above.

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OPPOSING VIEW:

Martha’s Vineyard is the epicenter of black elitism
By Talia Whyte
12:10 AM on 08/24/2009

Martha’s Vineyard has been abuzz over the last few weeks due to the arrival of President Obama and his family onto the island for some rest and relaxation. The Obamas will be joined and welcomed – perhaps – by leagues of other wealthy and successful black professionals who have also called the island their summer home for over a century.

For many black folks, Martha’s Vineyard and specifically Oak Bluffs, has historically been the epicenter of black elitism. Being able to own a home or even rent out a cottage for a quick weekend getaway is a sign of one’s class status in the black community. Growing up in Boston, I knew of many black lawyers, doctors, politicians and business owners who would disappear for the summer to that majestic place off Cape Cod.

As the child of Jamaican immigrants who moved to the United States to escape extreme poverty, I used to think that if I did all the right things in life – go to college, move up the professional ladder, move in the right social networks – I, too, could someday become a regular on that island of extreme wealth.

I made my Martha’s Vineyard debut the summer before my senior year in college, when a male friend who I liked invited me to visit his parents’ old money home near Oak Bluffs for a weekend social gathering. I remember sitting in the family living room, where the walls were lined with pictures of various family members standing next to famous politicians and movie stars, when my friend’s mother came into the room.

Instead of the general getting-to-know-you conversations, a “Hi, how are you?” or a “How are you liking the Vineyard?”, my friend’s mother quickly figured out that I wasn’t a regular on the island, and went into doing a deep background search on me. I remember her asking about things that were foreign to me such as where my family spent their winter vacations and what my role in my local Jack and Jill chapter was.

Rest of article at link above.