No matter how successful one eventually becomes, they cannot escape the stigma attached to their own voice. Consequently, it is almost impossible to move out of one's class, regardless of one's accomplishments or failures. Despite the fact he is a much bigger success, Mick Jagger is still a much lower class than Prince Charles. In America, we also have a class system. However, our system is much simpler.
Class is based on the color of skin.
No matter how much of a success or failure you become, you cannot change the color of your skin, which designates your class. Cose's thesis is that successful blacks feel more alienated from society than even more so than the larger black underclass which is not successful. They have done everything that white society has asked of them, but they still do not feel like they are being treated as equals. They are still feared by strangers, distrusted by shopkeepers, and harassed by police. He uses these examples to illustrate the point that no matter how big you become you still cannot escape the fact that you are black.