The Talented 1%.

The Met Gala was gross.

Photo Credit Kevin Mazur / MG21 / Getty Images as published in the LA Times Sept 14, 2021

Whiteness isn't the only thing wrong with elitism...

At the Met Gala this week, cultural glitterati in hundreds of thousands of mortgages worth of finery paraded for the camera. They were more diverse than ever before, and that is supposed to be enough. But it’s not. As income inequity becomes ever more stratified, the idea that capitalist elitism is ok as long as Black and Brown people can participate in it is just another way of reifying the status quo. While I appreciate that it sucks to say to Americans of color that as soon as they join the party, we now admit that the party has been a gross misallocation of resources in a world where children are starving and should be cancelled. But the party has been a gross misallocation of resources in a world where children are starving and should be cancelled. White supremacy is not the only harmful framework at play, and as long as we focus solely on the lens of whiteness, we will congratulate ourselves for the gradual transition from a white, capitalist, hegemony of the rich, to a racially diverse, capitalist, hegemony of the rich. Amanda Gorman in Vera Wang becomes our shield against allegations of injustice. The Talented Tenth becomes the talented 1%.