Like most American boys, I dreamed of being a professional athlete from the age of 8 through about 12. Unfortunately, for 99.9+ percent of the population, that's simply not a realistic goal. No amount of hard work and determination can make up for lack of natural talent. At least I was good enough for Varsity in high school. Some people are not even capable of that. A baseball manager once said that the only thing that is fair in life is a ball hit between the first base line and the third base line.
Life isn't fair. Some people are born into better circumstances than others and thus are more likely to be successful. That said, if you are fortunate enough to be blessed with the following, I would say that you've been dealt a pretty good hand regardless of your skin color:
Good family with a loving mother and father
Triple digit IQ
Reasonably attractive
Generally good health and chemical balance.
I get good marks in the first 3 categories. Even with Level 1 Autism, my life would be a lot better if I could ever get the autoimmune issues at least UNDER CONTROL.
If you were born into a dysfunctional family, you are more likely to struggle with substance abuse and get into legal trouble. If you have an IQ of 75, that's a mental age of 12-13. You will most likely not graduate high school unless the standards are lowered. You will have to be content with being a janitor or some other menial labor job. You will struggle in the dating market if you are unattractive and will be difficult to live with if you have chemical imbalances. RFK was correct when he said that those with Level 3 Autism cannot live independently. Sad but true.
Still, with all of that being said, unless you are severely disabled, you can better your circumstances or at least improve your chances of being successful by making good choices. My Spanish 1 teacher told our class that she was amazed every year to see kids with IQs over 130 fail the class while others that she never thought would make it get B's and C's.
As bad as my health problems are, it could be worse. If I didn't take the pills that I need, I don't think I could even work a full time job. If I smoked a pack of cigarettes, drank a 6 pack every day and didn't even try to exercise, I would certainly feel a LOT WORSE.
I rarely made all A's but it was a good feeling every semester to look in mirror knowing that I gave it my best shot in every class. Not everyone can be a A-student but far too often I saw classmates who were perfectly happy with a C. They certainly could have done better with more effort. Nobody in their right mind would suggest awarding the same grades to every student regardless of the quality of work. By the same token, because some jobs require a higher skill level than others, some professions should pay higher than others.
I met an idiot in college who honestly believed that a cashier or a fast food worker should earn as much as a doctor or lawyer. One problem. Why would anyone put themselves through the stress of law school or medical school when they could earn just as much in menial labor? You can make the case that most people don't have the intelligence to earn an advanced degree and you are certainly right that life is unfair. Now, is it fair to deny compensation to highly educated people who have worked hard and made tremendous sacrifices? Even with an IQ above 120, getting an MBA was very hard especially with neuro imbalances and constant adjustment to my cocktail of pills. I deserve a comfortable life.
I asked several people what needs to happen for them to say that the USA is no longer a systemically racist country. I rarely got a simple straight answer but a few people pointed to the wealth gap. Unless the average black person has the same net worth as the average white person, racism is the culprit. While I agree that the Civil Rights era did not erase the history of slavery and Jim Crow overnight, much progress has been made in the last 60 years. For Boomers and to a lesser extent, Gen Xers, racism was still a real obstacle. For those my age or younger, not so much.
Ben Shapiro aired a podcast in which he said that if you simply finish high school, secure stable employment and do not have children out of wedlock, your odds of living in permanent poverty are very slim regardless of your race. I am betting that mental health issues are a factor for those who remain poor in spite of good decisions. Same wealth and same quality of life regardless of your choices? I don't think so. What if you factor in those differences? It may not be equal but I am quite sure that the racial wealth gap diminishes considerably.
I dislike the term "black fatigue" because I think it promotes stereotypes. In Chicago while waiting for the subway, I observed a young man talking loudly on his phone using horrible language including the n-word and the MF word in front of children who appeared no older than 7 or 8. Needless to say, I disliked him but it had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH SKIN COLOR. In fact, I observed 2 other black people who looked at each other and shook their heads in disgust. What angers me just as much is liberals who make excuses for that type of behavior. Some have even stated that it should be accepted as part of their culture. NO. If you don't expect or demand better than that, you are part of the problem. I'm no fan of Bush-43 but he was spot on with his soft bigotry of low expectations remark.
One of the highlights of my childhood was the Junior Olympic Nationals in Mobile, Alabama back in 1992. One of the motivational speakers was a former sprinter by the name of Harvey Glance. His message left a profound impression. These are his words, not mine so don't try to twist it.
Glance said that after track practice, "I went home and did my homework. I was considered weird. I didn't drink alcohol or experiment with marijuana. I was considered weird. I didn't fool around with girls until I was ready for a serious relationship. I was considered weird. Problem was that the same people who called me weird because of my consciencious effort and rejection of drinking and womanizing were on their way to minimum wage jobs with much of their earnings going to child support."
