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- Jan 19, 2016
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If you are growing up today, or hell even the 90s, and you went through high school, took it seriously, went to college in a decent field(STEM), then you should have no problem being successful. The problem is there are cultural differences and school is seen in a much different light in the inner city community in general. With the rates of single family households and incarceration numbers of black people in the United States, it is no wonder that they are statistically less well off. But it has nothing to do with not being given an opportunity. There are millions of kids that grew up dirt poor in these places that are now at Harvard, Yale, MIT because they applied themselves.
The problem with your position is that you act like all white people that are in America are decedents of slave owners. My family came over from Ireland and Poland and were discriminated against horrendously. They were escaping even worse torment in Europe. After WWII my grandfather went through school on the GI Bill and was able to open up his own business. He was given an opportunity not because he was white, but because he served in WWII, while many of others at the time came back in body bags. When he was alive, he still would never talk about what he saw there. He raised my dad and his 4 siblings up well. Three PhD's on one side of the family due to the sacrifice my grandfather made and the hard work of my father and his brothers. My parents lived in horrible places while my dad was working on his masters and PhD. Multiple shootings near their apartment all the time. All through this, my mom was working multiple jobs to make sure they could pay rent and eat.
Compare this to current day. Where even asking the parents to stay together is hard enough. Where school is considered a "white" or "gay" thing. Where the only war they face is shootings over drug deals. Working multiple jobs to take care of your family? Rare. Having a single job? Rare.
Sure, I was privileged growing up. My parents were together and still are. My father worked his ass off in his 20's to give our family a good life. He stayed out of trouble, when others from his hometown didn't. I can count on one hand the number of times he blew off his job. They taught me and my brother that we needed to work for what we wanted. Blaming other people wasn't gonna get us anywhere but flipping burgers at Mcdonalds. Me and my brother are continuing the tradition of hard work and getting educated in fields that matter.
This is why people get tired when you say that we were privileged because of our skin color. My great grandfather worked on the docks in NYC. Had barely a high school education. But he worked all his life. My grandfather served in WWII and was given an opportunity that millions others received as well. My father was given opportunities as well. Not because they were white. But because they took what they were given in life, and they worked hard and accomplished what they could. There are millions of black people that can reach incredibly high levels. When you tell white people they got to where they were because of privilege you're also telling black people that they won't get where they want, because it isn't fair. When you attempt to make them a permanent victim you take away their drive in life. There are millions of opportunities these days. All you need is the determination to achieve it.
