Long story short, the quote in the title is from a CAC who used to live in the same apartment as me years and years ago. We talk now and again, usually discussing race.
His story:
Comes from a family of geniuses. Both of his parents work in biomedical science. He's the middle child.
His older brother graduated from Oxford. His younger sister graduated from Princeton.
He was meant to go to an MIT school but he got addicted to meth and ended up not going. He was a fukk up for years living in the streets and being in and out of prison. His family completely cut him off.
When I finished college I moved into the same apartment as him and we just hit it off. We've been in touch again recently and he told me straight (I'm. Paraphrasing) :
"being white isn't great unless you're rich and white. When you're poor and white, unless you're a first generation immigrant, everyone looks down on you for wasting your white opportunity, especially white people. You can't truly enjoy whiteness unless you have money. I'd trade my whiteness If I could be rich and any other ethnicity.
When you're poor and non-white, society doesn't have the same expectations for you. People are more sympathetic (mainly quietly) knowing that the odds are against a minority from a poor background. When you over achieve and are a minority, you're seen as "special" and one of a kind. That's why white people love Jordan, Lebron, Michael Jackson etc.
The fact they defied all expectations and prospered in a racist system is like a miracle story to them. When they see poor white people, they look at us with contempt. Like a wasted opportunity. Yeah, that are more more opprtunities to pull yourself out of poverty if you're white but unless you have the right connections or have the right surname, no one will help you."
Thoughts?
you monster, he was only defending his owner
