For many black American families, the dogged and grim pursuit of upward mobility—of the American dream being actualized instead of aspirational—cultivates a dynamic where performative mobility replaces actual mobility. This, of course, is a by-product of the historical constrictions and conditions placed on our financial ascension. Moving up the ladder from working poor to lower middle class, from lower middle class to middle class, and from middle class to upper middle class is possible. And it happens often enough that actively pursuing it can’t be dismissed as silly.
This is what I mean by blazing, honest truth.
