Having lived in North Carolina getting my masters and being a second generation Dominican I get the opportunity of being exposed to being around African Americans ,Whites and Asians and Latinos... I get called a sell out but now adays its more like being bourgeoisie which is the new sell out. People like ,Will Smith, Oprah, Obama, Ricky Martin, Monchy y Alexandra, Jay Z & Beyonce, Caretta Scott King, Cathy Hughes (CEO), Robert Johnson (CEO), Stanley O Neal ( former CEO),Pharell, Quincy Jones, are the type of people others will call sellouts and these people are mostly educated , independently wealthy,mentioned in Forbes,...and people labeling them sellouts has nothing to do with people thinking they are trying to acting white. In the USA anything that does not assimilate to the street image (which is now mainstream popular culture) are considered by many to be sellouts. People don't just equate being educated with being white anymore, especially since in the US Asians had the highest level of education, success in independent businesses. There are many Black ,Latino and Asian successful educated,classy people from all backgrounds now. I know this because I have worked with these people when I was a financial analyst and most of these people with degrees who were young people were minorities. In fact many young whites that I worked with were at the same jobs and did not obtain their Undergraduate degrees including one of my best friends who comes from a middle class background. Education in general in the USA is not put on the pedestal that is once was. In my family it was a pillar of excellence but when you have CNN and Forbes telling you the richest man (Bill Gates) dropped out of school, entertainers (some of them) didn't finish school, and you too can be a star by getting on America's top Idol or Model, many people say what is the use. It is a sad but normal part of growing up in the states now and a large majority of the 15-25 yr old's don't value education of ANY race. the ghetto culture has spread to middle America and is thriving because we are in a recession due to the fiscal decisions of our government, high interest, a home mortgage crisis, and society not divesting in education.People see you as being "fake", "bourgeoisie ", "preppy", "Yuppy like"...when you are different than the common young person these days. Also when economic times are hard msot young people cling to race,nationality, and superficial status (cars,chains,girls) to suffice for low self esteem sue to not knowing how to correct their lives or where their lives are going. The reason is there are all kinds of "ghetto" people in the States and what many would call chopo are white kids (who call themselves the n word) with doo rags, gold teeth,gold chains, loud music and grotesque, spinning wheeled cars. I dont understand how people automatically equate this with being ghetto and black and Latino automatically, when they need to understand that ghetto-ness is engulfing everything due to the economy. Depending on how you are dressed, with me being preppy most "ghetto" blacks would not speak to me nor will the whites who get along with them (the ghetto types also get along with redneck country hillbillies) and the country Latino types only speak to their won class from their won country. In fact most Dominicans I know and respect don't wave flags, use excessive dominicanismo slang, have successful businesses, have kids in Universities like Duke and NCSU (they aren't all light skin either), and dress pretty conservatively.
Although alot of Dominicans that do dress like they would in a urban decaying enviroment do consider us sellouts cause we don't have the flag on all of our attire, cars, pens and shoes. Although I ignore all of them Black, White, or Latino because that is what people do when they have low self esteem when they are poor.Also alot of them are under 25 and when your young people do stupid things I don't think I was headed for excellence by appearance when I was 22 either.
By the way I live in a neighborhood where 45% are black (many white collared) professionals who all OWN houses,35% are white (some are professional some are blue collar),and 20% are Latino. I am sure if I were to travel down town to the poor section of town, I could find a member of every race....who was poor except maybe Asian. I will be honest I have never seen an Asian begging for change or dressed in such a "hood" manner then again I am not from the West Coast I heard many there are in gangs and are very rugged (Flying Dragons,Tongs, etc).
