While on assignment in South Africa, Sam Fulwood III saw similarities between the black middle classes in South Africa and those in the United States.

"I look at race and at class in much the same way as I look at gravity -- they ground us and keep us with our feet on the ground and keep us from soaring in ways we might want to," said Fulwood, a Washington correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.

Fulwood spoke to a packed audience in the HUB Ballroom Wednesday in honor of Ebony and Ivory Week.

But not all black people define the struggle in this way. National Pan-Hellenic Council President Ali Thrower said the struggle of the black middle class involves black people trying to keep in touch with their grass roots while at the same time trying to battle the day-to-day struggles of corporate America.

While struggling in today's society, many members of the black middle class are looking for ways to improve their situation by cooperating with each other.

Allen Eaton (junior-marketing) said the way to improve the situation must come from within the black community.

"Blacks look down on other blacks when they get ahead and it shouldn't be like that, " he said. "They should support each other when someone gets ahead."

Fulwood said the way to improve the situation must come from society as a whole, not just the black middle class. Refering back to the analogy between gravity, class and race, he said, "Gravity can be broken but it takes cooperation and teamwork."

Federal and state aid is another way to improve the black middle class' situation. But this is something Eaton thinks is hindered by the government's lack of understanding.

"The government only understands a part of what the African-American middle class is going through," Eaton said, calling on the black community to make up for what the government doesn't understand.

While getting help from the government and each other, the black middle class is also helped by on-campus programs, such as those sponsored during Ebony and Ivory Week. Jill Lynn Harris, Ebony and Ivory Week adviser, said these types of programs help by presenting the views and feelings of the real world.