European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 18, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Middle class Blacks by Isabel Wilkerson new York times Joyce Ford the daughter of labourers tied the hand to Mouth world of Washington s Black housing projects and now has amenities of the a Middle class a Good Job in the government an office across the Street from the White House a Merit raise and an american express card. But she still has the Bone deep worries of the poor a a.1 a sitting at her desk the other Day she got yet another Call from a frantic relative with bad news and High -. Expectations. Quot your brother a sick,1�?T the caller said. Quot he needs to see somebody. What Are you going to do Quot what else could she do she spent the better part of the Day trying to figure out where her out of work brother should go for treatment and How to pay font. Ford 44, is among tens of thousands of Black people who Are the first in their families to break out by poverty and take a tenuous place in the american Middle class. Many Are scaling the economic ladder with one hand on. The Middle rung and the other still outstretched to the a relatives who need them. To outsiders Ford and those like her Are examples it How far the United states has come since the civil rights movement opened up legions of professional jobs previously closed to Black people. To their families they Are the american dream come True showpieces to brag about but even in the Best of times these newly arrived Blacks have a Loose grasp on  a faltering Economy tumbles toward recession they May slip out of the Middle Glass altogether Many economists and sociologists fear creating an even deeper Well of need among impoverished backs to whom they now lend support. A a a twp main things tend to distinguish Black Middle class people from Middle class Whites. One is the likelihood. That Many More of their relatives wiil Comedo them for a a help. The other is that they tend to Lack the resources of people who started life in the Middle  is no Clear Cut definition of Quot Middle class Quot a concept that can embrace not just How much Money people make but the Way the make it usually not with. Their hands.  and sociologists agree that the Middle class includes mainly professionals skilled a service and clerical workers and entrepreneurs each Ore a earning $25,000 to about $50,000 a year or More in the a person lives in an expensive City or has a lot of children under those criteria nearly 40 percent of Black people fall into the category of mid die class or above while 30 percent Are Blue Collar working class and 30 percent Are the unskilled poor a. A a but unlike the White Middle class which includes nearly 70 percent of All White households and has been a fixture a for three or four generations the vast majority of. The Black Middle class is starting from scratch. \  a census Bureau figures for 1989 show that Irr annual. Income the households of Black co Liege graduates trailed those of White College graduates by More than a third$37,958 for Blacks As against $48,862 for Whites. And while ail couples earn More if both husband and. Wife work a second income for Black families is usually. What allows them to be Middle class. -. A. When both spouses work the median income of Black couples is $37,787, according to 1989 census figures. But when one spouse did not bring Home a paycheck the Black couple s median income dropped to $18,727 a out of the Middle class. A White couples by contrast tend to keep their Middle class status even when one spouse does not work. Last year White couples earned a median figure of $45,803 -. With two paychecks and $29,689 with one. Not Donald and Gina Sheppard with their five children in Houston. Perhaps equally important economists say Black people often enter the Middle class with a slight fraction of the financial  Middle class Whites whose parents. And grandparents were Middle class. So Blacks Lack the Reserve of Money and property needed to buy a House to finance a College education to weather a personal catastrophe or a National recession unlike most Middle class Whites they live with daily personal reminders of the poverty and desperation they Are trying to put behind them As the loved ones Back. Homo who have not fared so Well turn to them for help with the rent use of a car a place to stay. 1. A  Middle class Black people were reluctant to talk to a reporter about their experiences out of a sense of duty and protectiveness toward their loved ones. Some did not want to take credit or appear to be holding. Themselves above the people they once played Stig Ball or jump rope with a. And in a society that in Many ways judges people not 1. Only by where they Are but by where they came from. Many feared that their backgrounds and family a responsibilities would subject them to unwanted scrutiny at work or even be held against them. Ain dozens of interviews Middle class Black people said a they were proud to be the ones Able to help their families but were frustrated by their inability to get ahead. Donald Sheppard an assistant professor of social work. At Texas Southern University in Houston has a wife and five children but they Are just the dependents the internal Revenue service knows about. A a when a  a loan when a sister needs a a Job when a Nephew needs a car when a Cousin needs a credit card or a Friend needs food or a place to stay they. Come to  a a Quot i know that when i get paid on the first of the month i m going to get a  Sheppard 40, said Quot its expected that i have it and that i m going to give it. Feel i m working. For the whole extended family. It s not a question of if1 a they re going to need it. I know they re going to need . A a his relatives have looked to him for help since he was in Grade school. Quot when the television would get those a horizontal lines they would always Call on me Quot Sheppard recalled. Quot i did t know what to do any More than they did. But i d turn some screw and it would Woik. A Quot even As a child people expected me to do everything i was Iho one in the family who was chosen to to the one. To make it Quot by the Lime to was if to was catching the bus to go pay the family s Utility Bills. His father a Wool Pressor of a Houston dry cleaners with not a Day of High school could not dare ask for the time off his Mother a Domestic worker had suffered a stroke and was too sick. So she Kepi him out of school to pay the Bills. He remembers Toping slopped by a truant Allicer and tolling him sir my Briama s sick. I m going to go to school As soon As i pay the Bills a. A Sheppard became the Only one of eight children to get a College degree and carry o briefcase to work a sister once told him Quot you re almost like a god. In our lanky we knew you would be  who and Ufa wife mat it oth social workers earned their masted Degroes at the University of Chicago in the mid-1980s by packing their five Hildien in their 1071. A a.  and All their belongings in a a haul truck a driving North and leading seven Mouths on what was left of their scholarship Money. A Quot they returned to Houston to an extended family of relatives and friends who needed them. Sheppard has gone into the refrigerator to get Chick on broilers and Tbone steaks for them he has even had to choose Between helping a relative out with the rent or fixing the boiler at his House the family always wins. Lately he has been trying to  rather than Money. Recently he got one of his nephews a maintenance Job at the University. Quot i have to do it forme Sheppard said. Quot if i get them a Job they won t have to be asking  .  a. Last August a childhood Friend of Sheppard s who was Down on his Luck and recently evicted asked. Sheppard if he could move Iii family in with Sheppard and his   yes and Sheppard s children slept on a the floor to make room. They stayed for live weeks. Quot every Day i had  in talk and bread and Cereal quo Sheppard said. Quot i had 12  the House and i was the  some of his investments have begun to pay off for instance he saw Promise in the Young son of one of his Sisters who was raising Tho boy As a single Parent a a Sheppard signed the boy up for Little league baseball _ coached him and Counse Iod him As a surrogate lather. The boy is  senior in High school at the top of his -. Class and a drum major in the band. A Sheppard is still paying Tor the help he has Given. His a credit cards Are up to. Their limit and he car needs fixing. A a even on his and his wife s combined income of $60,000 a / year they have Only a $5,000 Cushion Lor their retirement a and have not been Able to. Save for their children a College education. A a. A a a Quot in my famlty�?T3 eyesight to to made it Quot Sheppard Quot. Said Quot but to re living pay Check of paycheck to lavish a and Wallow in the status  Middle class to can t do it. And i can t give like f used to. A a a a a a Quot but it does no to seem to. Register. People still come up to Erie and say i know its rough on you but its rougher on a me so can you give  this a Quot. His goal is to be Able to build up reserves so he can. Provide for relatives without Dep Leung his own Money but. He is a Long Way from hat Point. A. Quot when i think Abou fit in really kind of frightens me a a a these super responsibilities Quot he said,."sometimes i find myself  depressed  on by my. A children my wife family members students colleagues. Friends needing,.ashngj wanting.  never ends Quot tuesday december 18, 1990 the stars and stripes k Kirk. Page 13