It is nonsense. It speaks to an incredibly unsophisticated way of viewing the world. Structure exists. Only the blind deny this, yet unsophisticated thinkers cannot process the ways in which structure constricts peoples ability to act. The de jure racism, segregation, and marginalization has largely been done away with. The structures and discourses in society which create de facto racism, segregation, and marginalization still exist. Those structures reproduce poverty, political marginalization, undereducation, etc. Ignoring the fact that 400 years of slavery and segregation left black people in an untenable economic situation, is simply stupid. Expecting black people to overcome their lack of privilege the moment legal obstacles were removed, despite their still existent lack of structural, economic, and political privilege is simply stupid. The lack of legal obstacles is why extraordinary black people like Neil Degrasse Tyson can succeed as they do. The existence of all the other obstacles still in existence, is why average black people do not have the same access to opportunity that average white people do. That is what is important. In our society extraordinary people are likely to succeed no matter their racial or economic background. There are also people from all backgrounds likely to not be successful. It is for the rest of people where the hundreds of years of structural and economic limitations are most clearly viewable. However, it takes a small amount of sophistication of thought to realize this reality.
