Third time is the charm

Attempt #1

I can definitely see what you’re saying. That is clearly the argument for the worst possible scenario. Where someone has competence but it isn’t recognized, where the feedback of the system isn’t allowed to operate because people don’t allow other people to prove they can achieve the results. That’s terrible.
But if I could offer some cause for encouragement, I think there is still a bigger story. Clearly, unfounded prejudice is awful and something Americans in general and blacks in particular are very eager to avoid and remedy. There are a few ways you can overcome this. One way is to seek achievement on ground where you have the advantage. An in-group advantage of some kind. Either from being in a majority in that space (a country, a state, a town, a business), having personal or community connections, having signitories that grant advantage like recommendations or references, etc. Basically, shift to ground where that factor is minimized so other factors emerge as more significant (your competence, experience, energy, competitiveness, etc). That’s what lots of people have done throughout history across dozens of cultures.
The second possibility is to seek a common ground where in-group advantages are less important and where people fundamentally just care more about the other factors, regardless. And America is basically the number one best place to find that that has ever existed in history, ever. Practically all culture and countries are largely ethnically homogenous. Some are statistically almost completely homogenous, like Japan. There’s no one there but the in-group, racially, so other factors emerge as those which divide and serperate people (which always happens no matter what, for some reason, people find their groups). The greatest psychological predictors of successful outcomes in America are intelligence and conscientiousness, and that’s about what you would want. There has never been any place in history where such a large and diverse assortment of cities came together to succeed and to mix together (because racial origin was no longer such a primary dividing factor for in-group identity). I’m not saying it was, or even is now, perfect, because people aren’t perfect and you can’t make them be perfect by force, so nothing ever is. But compared to everywhere else ever in history, it’s the best. The racial contingent of any particular group in America is generally the richest and sometimes even the most numerous population of that group in the world, despite their minority status. There are far more of many people groups in America than in their country of origin, they’ve done so well here, and often mixed with their own former enemies and rivals. And among the richest and most well-educated contingents of people we have to include African Americans, the richest people of African descent in the world. And that’s something to be proud of.
America cares far less about who you are and cares far more about what you can do than anyone anywhere, ever. That’s a thing to be encouraged by. So, we should take that to heart. That’s a solution we’re already enjoying the benefits of, more than anyone ever has ever enjoyed. And America is very responsive to outcomes. America is willing to give a chance and love anyone who can really perform, even more today than in the past, and in the past it was already way ahead of everywhere else. The data in support of that is just overwhelming.
In fact when it comes to bias we’re so positively biased in favor of black people in particular that were at risk of committing racism against other groups in order to favor them (for example, finding ways to hide the performance of Asians and Jews so they don’t keep monopolizing the rewards of their overperformance, and they’re starting to get genuinely annoyed about it). We’re living in a culture that literally bends over backward trying to find ways to honor and help and bring forward black people, because of the burden of guilt from knowing that they were not granted the full opportunities they deserved. If we didn’t care so much as a people about that concept, the idea that the proof is in the pudding, that you should have the freedom to succeed or fail on your own merits and be judged by the content of your character, we wouldn’t feel so compelled to address and correct it in this case. MLK didn’t invent those values, he argued that those values were already implicit in the ideals of America and its religious and philosophical foundations, and so, to avoid hypocrisy, must be applied consistently in this case.
Proving yourself is hard, especially in areas where it’s not obvious you have competence. There is some fierce competition. That’s another thing about America. Because it places such a high regard on results over all other factors, you’re competing on a world stage, against a diverse and motivated group of competitors who came from every corner of the globe for their best shot at success. But the idea that some people can’t succeed, purely on the basis of unreasoned prejudice, just isn’t true of America as a country. It’s less true of America now than anywhere ever. So if you can’t succeed here, then where? If this is the historical maximum, what conditions do you require before you can succeed? And why have some groups that have faced extremely difficult conditions and prejudice managed to succeed despite those conditions, and especially succeeded here? America isn’t just the story of white people or black people. It’s full of stories and experiences that are just as valid as the personal experiences you invoke as proof for your perspective. It contains the story of the Dutch, Germans, English, Armenians, Cubans, Mexicans, Koreans, Jews, Italians, Greeks, the Irish, the Polish, Swedes, scads of religious minorities, peasants, criminals, exiles, refugees. All these stories are what America is. They’re stories of conflict and struggle and the meeting of people who never before had to share the same spaces and maybe had been fighting for centuries, or who had never even heard of one another before. America is also their stories. And a lot of them are good. A lot of them are about getting the best chance they ever had, a better chance than where they came from.
My family emigrated here about a hundred years ago. They got tricked, cheated, and stuck. But they didn’t give up. Their dirt house collapsed and they ended up living in an abandoned railroad car a half hour from where I grew up. Most of them died or scattered, looking for help from other people of their country. My grandfather’s mother died giving birth to him, we never ever knew her maiden name or what she looked like, his father drank himself to death, and he ended up sharing space in a home with someone who didn’t even bother feeding him, so he lived off donations of day-old donuts from a creamery. He didn’t have parents to care, so he never went to high school. My dad was the first person in my family to actually graduate. That was a couple generations ago. A lot has changed since then, for my family and for the nation as a whole. I grew up surrounded by German and Mexican immigrants who were building lives in a dry corner of Colorado, and I’ve seen those lives grow and change. That story is part of America.

And so are the stories of black America, beyond just those of prejudice. There are also lots of very competent and successful blacks, and there have been for a long time. Blacks who have been heroes to people of a dozen different races here in America, who have shaped the very nature and heart of the culture. Entertainers, politicians, musicians, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, preachers, lawyers, doctors, sports stars, actors, teachers, coaches, all kinds of people. Those, of course, tend to be the most visible people in our culture, but down into the basic day to day that keeps life going there are black people at every level who are essential to what keeps our country alive.

The point is that no one person or groups experience gets to override and define what a America is. It’s a shared endeavor, a diverse story. And that story today includes some unreasoned prejudice. But just because that story exists doesn’t mean it gets to be the whole story. It gets to be heard, but so do all the other stories. All the stories of

Attempt #2

Thank you so much for your thoughts! That is clearly the argument for the worst possible scenario. Where someone has competence but it isn’t recognized, where the feedback of the system isn’t allowed to operate because people don’t allow other people to prove they can achieve the results.
I don’t think my problem is that I couldn’t conceive of or imagine a scenario such as you’ve described, I think virtually everyone in the world can imagine it and fears it. It’s a very natural and human concern.
I think the point I was just trying to make was that, compared to all other time and all other places, America cares less about unreasoned prejudice and more about what you can do, it’s more biased toward what you can do than who you are, than any other place that has ever existed. Imperfect as it is, it’s still the historical maximum.
So rather than leaning into our fears, if we really want to do well and be appreciated for what we can do, considering that there’s more opportunity here for that than there ever has been anywhere ever, we should lean in to that opportunity, take control of what we can control, and lay in our efforts where they have the best opportunity for producing the outcomes we want than any other place. I think if people actually want to succeed and have a more truly empowered outlook that makes that more likely, this kind of attitude is helpful, because it’s so easy to fall into cognitive distortions that create mental and emotional poverty. And you can’t fix that from the outside. You can only fix that from the inside, with faith and hope and courage and wisdom. And whatever anyone else say, I believe that these are the true powers in the world we live in, and Tha is where we should place our faith, not in the latest political theory. Cognitive behavioral therapy has a lot of say on this subject.
The black people I know are far too impressive and proud and competent to be known for anything other than what amazing people they are. Most of them are better and more successful people than I could ever hope to be. And that’s just the people in my own life. In the media I see all sorts of others whose grace and talent and success and wealth I could never hope to reach.
Most everything you had to say relied on the power of personal testimony for its validity, the unquestionability of lived experience. And experience is wonderful. But everyone has it. And there are so many more experiences that could be shared than just this one view. And America isn’t just one of them, it’s all of them.
Racism, unfortunately, isn’t something you can ever completely remove from the world. It’s a function of things in us that are too deeply seated and essential to how we think and judge. It has been and will always be part of the struggle of humanity with itself. But it doesnt have to be the controlling factor in our personal narrative. Some demons we can’t dispel, but we can learn to love above them. We can find a deeper dignity and center. We can commit ourselves, at least, to not perpetuate the sins we suffer on others (and that is a very, very hard thing not to do). In a world where the only thing we’re truly sovereign over is ourselves, we have to have faith that that is the true center of our power and the also most dire danger to our lives, that it is either our greatest honor or dishonor, however the world perceives us or however circumstance conspires for or against us, how we ruled ourselves is the measure of who we are.
If I could disagree with one thing I’ve heard people here say, it’s this: that the greatest differences among people are not between groups, but within them. I don’t agree with that. I think the greatest differences are between who we could be and who we are. I could be so much more and so much less than I am. Regardless of what the rest of the world does or thinks or what happens to me. I am so much worse than I seem. And I could be so much worse than I am. And I could be so much better than I am. Our lives in the world face such great changes of fortune and circumstance. There are such great turns they can take. But great as they are, they’re nothing compared to what goes on in here, inside me. That is where the greatest battles are fought, where rhe biggest difference are decided. That is where ai become who I truly am. That is where my value and capability truly reside. Whether other people know it or not.

Attempt #3

Thank you so much for your thoughts! That is clearly the argument for the worst possible scenario. Where someone has competence but it isn’t recognized, where the feedback of the system isn’t allowed to operate because people don’t allow other people to prove they can achieve the results.
I don’t think my problem is that I couldn’t conceive of or imagine a scenario such as you’ve described, I think virtually everyone in the world can imagine it and fears it. It’s a very natural and human concern. And you’re right that it’s terrifying and paralyzing and just eats rhe heart out of you.
I think the point I was just trying to make was that, compared to all other times and all other places, America cares less about unreasoned prejudice and more about what you can do, it’s more biased toward what you can do than who you are than any other place we’ve ever known. Imperfect as it is, it’s still the historical maximum.
So rather than leaning into our fears, if we really want to do well and be appreciated for what we can do, considering that there’s more opportunity here than there ever has been anywhere ever, we should lean in to that opportunity, take control of what we can control, and lay in our efforts where they have the best opportunity for producing the outcomes we want than any other place. I think if people actually want to succeed and have a more truly empowered outlook that makes that more likely, this kind of attitude is most helpful, because it’s so easy to fall into cognitive distortions that create mental and emotional poverty.
And you can’t fix that from the outside. You can only fix that from the inside, with faith and hope and courage and wisdom. And whatever anyone else says, I believe that these are the true powers in this world we live in, and that is where we should place our faith, not in the latest political theory. Anti-racism won’t save black America, white liberals won’t save black America . Only God, virtue, and themselves can do that.
No one every freed themselves from suffering by focusing on how they were a tragic martyr, even when it was perfectly true and they were. They overcame and escaped by becoming heroes. There are multitudes of black heroes, in our culture and in my own life. People whose greatness and dignity and skill and success and grace I could never hope to equal. No one can take that quality away from you, because it lives inside of you. It shines forth wherever you go. And people can’t look away. People can’t deny it without losing an advantage they need.
America loves heroes. We love it when they come from an unexpected place. We love to tell that story and celebrate it. It’s the story of what America is, at its core. It’s the myth that drives us. The hope that that next story is just around the corner, waiting to be told.
I don’t know what it would take to solve racism. But I know where great people come from. Ordinary, extraordinary people, as Condoleezza Rice put it. That is where we should place our hope.

I kept reducing my arguments. Because it’s very hard to argue with a monolithic worldview piecemeal, or to argue the value of one person’s experience against these other people. People always value their own experience and interpretations the most. So I stead of trying to deal with her beliefs, I decided it was better to just acknowledge hers, then state my own vision, state what I hold my deep alliegance to, and let that speak for itself. Arguments may or may not hit home. But an alternative vision is something positive that someone could choose. It’s a living force, not a tactic.