(Here's a Wikipedia link to Saparmurat Niyazov*)

Alphonso Jackson tends to rely on the fact that so much of the fate of the African American community depends on non-members.  The latter cohort, of course, is unlikely to know very much about it and will believe the most absurd nonsense.  One of these is that African Americans are somehow monolithic, and one particular Black man can/may speak for all the rest.  Never mind that there are greater disparities in income in the Black community than in the nation at large**, or large geographical gaps between concentrations of African Americans (hence, the archipelago-like character of the community itself), or huge sectional differences between people like Jackson--who is a surrogate of the white power structure--and the rest of Black America, who are "acted upon" by that same white power structure.

It amazes me, in short, that people are surprised at the existence of economic concentration within the African American community, economic concentration that naturally spawns a cadre of "Black conservatives."  It's like expecting a country to be 100% dissident, or 100% leftist.  Of course, the African American community is going to have its own elite, and that elite will be elite partly by virtue of some social standing with other African Americans, but also by virtue of some usefulness to the white power structure.

** "greater disparities": by this, I mean that the standard deviation from the mean income, for African American households, is greater than that for the rest of the country.  For an explanation of this concept, see HC.

Of course, the African American community is going to have its own elite, and that elite will be elite partly by virtue of some social standing with other African Americans, but also by virtue of some usefulness to the white power structure.

No one is surprised by that. What is interesting is the degree to which that usefulness is understood to be in taking steps to keep Black folks properly modest.

And I understand that pointing this out is not seen as useful to either the left or right sides of the white power structure.

But they are wrong.

I think I need to write about coalition politics . 

No one is surprised by that

No one ought to be surprised by that. And perhaps no one is. But people who think a "Black conservative" somehow has a different (viz., undeniably benign) relationship to his community, than a White "conservative", are evidently surprised by it. Or pretending to be.

What is interesting is the degree to which that usefulness is understood to be in taking steps to keep Black folks properly modest.

It looks like simple vanity. I, too, like to feel like I am a useful, beneficial person to have about. It's nice to hear that someone else thinks we are insufficiently appreciated. The question now arises, is Alphonso Jackson really speaking over the heads of his audience to his boss?

ADDED SECONDS LATER: Urm, I ought to have read the subtitle to this post. I guess you already had that idea! 

There is a type of Black Conservative that has no parallel in the mainstream community because the conditions that produce them don't exist in the mainstream.

It has always been a profitable option for a Black person to sell out. Also consider: angry white men are angry at non-whites. Angry Black men are angry at Black people.

The dynamics are out in the open but most white folks don't see it because the need to never arises.