Being a Black Man

And it also seems unfair that we would be required to meet any other standard or shoulder some heightened burden to "raise the bar", that other men or ethnic groups do not, but since when has life been fair around here?

 

And, even if a person makes it, someone "flips the script." They see a person do the exact same thing the other did, they chime in saying, "He/she didn't do it the way I like to see it done," or, "My way is better than yours," and they are backed up by family, friends and strangers(even though they have absolutely no idea of what they are doing or did). It is a childish way of saying that only this type of person should be doing this thing and that this person should be reaping the rewards and noone else.

 

Double standards suck.

 

"Pull them boot straps up & get like me dammit. I be's the shit & smell like popori. "

 

I'm beginning to see either you meet the challenge or perish. We've created a winner takes all scenario and barely anyone one either side challenges the lunacy of that shit so its purely a sick or swim mentality because nearly every dumb fuck thinks that their personal circumstances will be elevated by chance (lottery feel) so it doesn't matter how poorly everyone is being treated because one day they'll overcome it. So now we have people who truly believe that their mediocre talents will help them rise above. It will be true for some but not for most so in the mean time while the system resets its "our" best interest to be as talented and hardworking as humanly possible because there is no room for error when you are considered the other more so when your hue is less than desirable.

 

My mother, in her very religious way, would always say that some will make it and others will not because it is what God has planned for them and we should just wait on the Lord. The Lord is working it out in some way but we have to have faith. I often argue that I believe in faith through action and I want to have some idea if I am on the right track. She also says that God will test people to see if they keep their faith because God's time is not our time. I didn't like that but it is true. Some people win and enjoy a great deal of prosperity because it was their time. This is an example of the sink or swim analogy. We have to use what God gives us in order to survive in a competitive and fearful world. Learning what we can is helpful because it would help somewhere down the road in the future.

 

True. Being "the Other" just provides those with bad intentions with another excuse to prejudge you. Barring some ability to challenge this double standard, you're right, the "sink or swim" imperative will increasingly beset us all.