We live in a society built of classes. These classes are necessary in a capitalistic society because no matter how rich a nation we become we will always need a lower class to clean the offices we work in and pick the strawberries we eat. Minority groups have found themselves stuck in this class of working poor and because people stereotype and perceive minority groups to fill this need of a lower class it makes it very difficult for these groups to advance from one socio-economic level to the next. DuBois understood this problem in America and decided that it was necessary for Blacks to break this mold they would first need to dispel the stereotypes that haunted them. His answer to this difficult situation was "the talented tenth."" The idea behind the concept was that a group of the top ten percent of blacks would excel, raising the entire black social class. Many people have criticized DuBois for these opinions, claiming they are without merit and unrealistic. I do not believe, however, that these people (men like West and Gates) fully understood what DuBois was meant by his talented tenth. In order for a social class to advance the way DuBois wanted Blacks to raise up they must first be perceived as equal and in today's society we judge the masses and base our opinions of groups of people on the generalizations and stereotypes that we see in the media and we create in our minds. That is the mistake people make in interpreting DuBois. He did not think the newly created Black elites would live in Harlem and help the Black race by encouraging people in their communities. He knew the Black elite would separate themselves from that element of Black culture just as White elites have done for years. He wanted the black elites to change the perceptions of the upper middle class. Changing their perceptions of blacks, which in turn would free the black lower class from those stereotypes, allowing them to move up in the social classes of America.