crabs in a barrel

a Leroy-ism:: "If you put three black people in a room together, two of them will get together to talk about the third."

Sidebar about the Leroy-isms: my daddy, although a H.S. dropout, could be rather bourgeois - hence my penchant for $500 Louis Vitton words - he would accept no less. So, he was full of comments related to Capitalism, classism, and navigating this inherently racist framework in which we live (he wasn't trying to go back to the Motherland, and neither am I).

The subject at hand::
I'm sure all of y'all have heard this saying, right? "Acting like crabs in a barrel"? So I'm not going into a detailed explanation. However, this has been on my mind for the last few weeks, for several reasons:

1. the Vixen is a lil PO'ed because I've been spending too much time with some other folks, and not enuff time with her. I know this, because a mutual friend made a comment that I know fell directly outta her mouth. AND she's not happy that I haven't been consulting her enuff about my choice of new abode.


2. A colleague of mine was up for a promotion, and I think a higher-level manager threw a wrench in the plan, shortly before the hiring manager was due to make a decision.


3. In the breakroom at work, there are marked divisions in the table assignments, and noticeable changes in the volume level of conversations when certain people walk by or in & out.


4. I've noticed some of our consultants work together, take lunch together, play ping-pong together, and have study-groups onsite after work.

This drives me crazy, why?
Scenario 1-3: all involved parties are African-American.
Scenario 4: all parties involved are holding Green cards, from predominantly Eastern cultures (India, Asia, etc.)

What da hell are we thinking about, yall? Seriously. We're no longer just operating within the framework of a classist-Capitalist-racist culture. We're also competing on a global scale, and we still are scrabbling on each other's backs to get out of that barrel. Hell, that barrel is floating on a raft, across the Pacific Ocean, being tossed about by oceanliners shipping jobs, aid, and cultures in both directions. Why are we still creating this self-hatin' drama?