I do not know how to reply to MoreMemesPlease since his comment only enables me to "flag," not to "reply."
In any event, "More Memes," thanks for your thoughtful comment.
My reply is this...
Both elements you mention are operant.
Many black people are caught in a transgenerational "behavioral sink" where circumstances conspire to make it damn difficult to break free of the "downward pull," only after which they would be able to rise.
Obama spoke of this when he said: "If you're an employer and you have a chance to hire two equally qualified candidates, one named "James" and one named "Jamal," who are you going to pick?" (Yes, there are many expeceptions to every rule.)
The overlooked (and essentially invisible) nub of "white privelege" is that we white people do not have to confront the same suspicion, contempt and hatred that black people must confront every day of their lives.
To get a quick handle on this viewpoint, check out the following John Stewart meme:
"Cops Killing Innocent, Unarmed Black Men, Benghazi, Jon Stewart And Thomas Aquinas On Sin"
https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2020/06/cops-killing-innocent-unarmed-black-men.html
So, I think it is decisively important to "level the playing field" so that the decisive motivator of "individual choice" has a real shot at coming into play.
Or, to use a somewhat hackneyed figure of speech, "to lift yourself up by your bootstraps, you first must have boots."
I encourage you to take a look at the following 12 minute video-history. (I was blown away.)
Brilliant Video History: The Key Difference Between "Income" And "Wealth" For U.S. Blacks https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2020/07/brilliant-video-history-key-difference.html
Concerning your observation that you "owe it to your children not to throw away a system that works," I believe the existing - and essentiallybackward-looking, largely platitudinous - American system no longer works while the West European system of "socialized democracy" does.
As I see it, November's election distills to whether we re-double our efforts to ressurect a corpse, or if we decide to incorporate core philosophical underpinnings of the successful European model: to wit, embodying "The Common Good," "The General Welfare" and a truly "Social Contract."
"The Rich Aren't Just Grabbing A Bigger Slice Of The Income Pie. They're Taking It All"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/09/the-rich-arent-just-grabbing-bigger.html
Thanks again for your thoughts.
