WEBVTT - Does Hard Work Really Lead to Success? (Part 1) 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.360 Broadcasting from the Hip Hop Weekly Studios. 0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:04.560 I'd like to welcome you to another episode of Civic Cipher, 0:00:04.559 --> 0:00:07.640 where our mission is to foster allyship empathy and understanding. 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:08.960 I am your host, ramses Ja. 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:12.960 He is Ramsy's Jaw. I am q Ward. You are 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:14.640 tuned into Civic Cipher. 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:17.600 And we appreciate that fact. We want you to stick 0:00:17.640 --> 0:00:21.439 around today because we are going to be asking some 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:25.960 really important questions, questions that continue to come up as 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:32.240 we navigate our path full of extremes in this country. 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:33.520 We're going to be asking. 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:36.760 Does hard work really lead to success? 0:00:37.720 --> 0:00:42.920 I know that a lot of people simplify that to 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.519 that sentence, and of course obviously it's more complicated than that, 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:49.480 but we're going to take a look at exactly what 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:52.680 that means. And we're going to borrow from a lecture 0:00:53.159 --> 0:00:57.800 from the great doctor Roy Casagranda, who we're a big 0:00:57.840 --> 0:00:59.760 fan of on this show, and we're going to use 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:02.120 that to kind of explain some of it, but also 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.560 kind of break out a few points that we that 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:11.399 we feel deserve a little bit more perspective. We're also 0:01:11.440 --> 0:01:18.920 going to be discussing how Ronald Reagan's racism tanked the 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:24.040 education system in the United States, and that is something 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:25.200 that we really need. 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:28.400 To take a look at, because we're. 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:31.000 Seeing a lot of things happen now, a lot of 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:33.959 attacks on the US Department of Education and on education 0:01:34.040 --> 0:01:38.720 in general. And you know, it's hard to say to 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:41.240 people that aren't familiar with it that racism is at 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:43.840 the root of it. But I believe that, you know, 0:01:43.880 --> 0:01:45.959 we can make a compelling case. We're not the first 0:01:45.959 --> 0:01:48.200 ones to make this case, and so this will be 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:50.920 a very easy lift for us. But you know, information 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:52.680 like this doesn't always make its way to people, and 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:56.000 so we're happy to share that on today's episode. But 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:59.280 before we get to all that business, we are going 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:01.320 to discuss some ebony. 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:04.920 Excellent, shall we Yeah, I think we shall. 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:09.800 Today's Abny Excellence, we're going to be discussing black business growth. 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:10.639 This is from. 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:14.360 Brookings dot Edu. And I recognize that this is from 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:17.239 a few years ago, but I think it still holds 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:19.280 up and it's worth celebrating. So in twenty twenty, black 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:22.400 people represented fourteen point two percent of all Americans, but 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.840 only two point four percent of all employer firm owners. 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:28.960 Latino or Hispanic people represented eighteen point seven percent of 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:32.720 the population and six point five percent of employer firm owners, 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:36.000 while Asian Americans represented six percent of the population and 0:02:36.080 --> 0:02:37.519 ten point six percent. 0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:38.840 Of employer firm owners. 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:42.960 From twenty nineteen to twenty twenty, black owned businesses grew 0:02:43.320 --> 0:02:45.720 by six three hundred and fifty one firms, or four 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:50.240 point seven two percent, behind Latino or Hispanic and Asian 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:55.160 American firms, but above white owned businesses, which shrunk by 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:59.839 point nine percent. Black business's growth was trending upward before 0:02:59.880 --> 0:03:03.120 the COVID nineteen pandemic. From twenty seventeen to twenty twenty, 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:05.440 the number of black owned businesses across the country increased 0:03:05.480 --> 0:03:08.519 by thirteen point six four percent, larger than all businesses 0:03:08.560 --> 0:03:11.840 in general, which increased by point five three percent over 0:03:11.880 --> 0:03:16.320 the same period. Black owned firms brought in an estimated 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:19.519 one hundred and forty one point one billion in gross 0:03:19.520 --> 0:03:23.480 revenue in twenty twenty, and eleven percent increase since twenty seventeen. 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:25.480 More so than other racial groups. 0:03:25.760 --> 0:03:29.160 Black owned businesses had pronounced increases in revenue, employees, and payroll. 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:32.200 In twenty twenty, black business owners employees one point three 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:34.440 two one million people and created forty eight thousand, five 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.400 hundred and forty nine new jobs, adding additional one point 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:40.400 seven billion and aggregate payout to the US economy. 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:42.560 If black business ownership continues. 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:43.960 To grow at its current rate, it will take two 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:46.560 hundred and fifty six years to reach parity with the 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:49.520 share of black people in America, a timeline that leaves 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:53.760 racial wealth gaps entrenched. Reaching parity in fifteen years will 0:03:53.760 --> 0:03:56.200 take seventy four point four percent growth rate for twenty 0:03:56.200 --> 0:04:00.600 five years. And so, you know, got work to do, 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:03.160 but that's growth, that's progress. And you know, we salute 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:04.680 all the black business owners out there and all the 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:07.240 people who support So that's. 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:13.360 Our Ebony excellence right now. However, I want. 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.520 To get to what it is that we really wanted 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:23.200 to make today's episode about. So there have been these 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:26.520 conversations and I'm sure that you're familiar with it. You know, Listen, 0:04:26.720 --> 0:04:29.120 everybody has the same twenty four hours in a day. 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:33.920 Everybody has the same opportunities in this country to make 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:38.279 a go of it. If you're not thriving, then it's 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:42.920 on you. There's no such thing as a white privilege. 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:47.000 You know, everybody's got it tough, right, And these these 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:50.320 things that we hear constantly, and the idea behind it 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:54.400 is to put the responsibility for your life squarely in 0:04:54.480 --> 0:04:58.440 your lap. Which if it was just that, right and 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:02.080 all other things were equal, everybody's on board with that, 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.359 you know, nobody's pushing back. Nobody wants handouts for the 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:06.920 sake of handle. Well, I'm sure there are people who 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:08.800 do want that, but you know, for the most part, 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:15.600 most reasonable people understand the nature of economics. You provide something, 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:18.720 you are compensated for what it is that you provide, 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:21.359 and you use that to compensate. 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:22.360 Other people for what they provide. 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:28.240 Right, that's the general gist of it, right, But in 0:05:28.279 --> 0:05:32.599 this country, there's a history of marginalized people, black people 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:38.440 in particular, suggesting that, hey, this system is rigged, and 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:43.560 it's rigged against us in particular, and try as we 0:05:43.640 --> 0:05:47.159 might to work as hard as we can, we will 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:51.919 never reach the level that you set as the standard, 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:56.080 and therefore we will always be lagging behind. Right now, 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:59.200 if you know, you and IQ, we talk about systemic 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:02.800 issues on this show. Week to week, we break all 0:06:02.800 --> 0:06:05.440 that sort of stuff down. We get people insight into 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:09.080 how we've ended up where we are. But for individuals 0:06:09.360 --> 0:06:15.960 who may not have to do journalistically credible research day 0:06:16.000 --> 0:06:18.080 to day, week to week to put on a program. 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:21.360 You know, this information may not make its way to 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:24.200 them and they might sincerely feel like, hey, bro, you 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:26.320 got the same twenty four hours in the day that 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:26.800 I do. 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:28.839 Get off your shoulders, get out there and get to 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:29.560 the money, right. 0:06:32.279 --> 0:06:34.440 And so what we're going to do today is kind 0:06:34.440 --> 0:06:39.800 of break down why that is only a half truth 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:44.640 and for why it's very different for different people with 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.159 you know, different walks of life in this country. What 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:49.640 we're going to do first is we're going to share 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:54.839 a bit from doctor Roy Casa Grande and. 0:06:57.279 --> 0:06:58.080 Let him tell it. 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:00.240 Best, because you know, he is a university professor or 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:02.640 he knows what he's talking about, and then we will 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:06.800 provide our insight into some of the things that he 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:08.120 doesn't go into too much detailing. 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:09.600 So we'll start that now. 0:07:11.960 --> 0:07:15.520 In nineteen sixty eight, Nixon believed he had been elected 0:07:15.560 --> 0:07:19.160 to undo the sixties. That was his mandate. He wanted 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:22.880 it nineteen seventy three to be nineteen fifty three. Honestly, 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:24.760 I think if it could have been eighteen fifty three, 0:07:24.800 --> 0:07:28.200 he would have preferred that. But at least nineteen fifty three, 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:34.880 the year he became vice president for Eisenhower. So two 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:37.760 years after we land on the Moon nineteen seventy one, 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:45.600 Nixon slashes NASA's budget. They're punished for their success. So 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:49.240 Nixon is looking at this and he's going, we just 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:52.680 did the sixties, and it's because of people like you, 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:57.560 innovators who hold summits to have ideas talked about. Right, 0:07:57.640 --> 0:07:59.360 that's what this is. In case he hadn't figured it 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:03.640 out already. There's a chance to share and maybe make 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:07.200 people uncomfortable on occasion, but to get ideas out there. 0:08:08.480 --> 0:08:10.680 And Nixon goes The sixties, which by the way, was 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:13.720 fifteen years long, started in fifty four and in sixty nine. 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.480 The sixties was total upheaval. It was a revolution in 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:22.400 the true sense of the word, an actual revolution. We 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.360 changed everything. We changed the way people dressed, We changed 0:08:25.360 --> 0:08:28.000 the way men wore their hair, We changed the music 0:08:28.040 --> 0:08:32.000 we listened to. We changed the political structure. We made 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:36.080 space for women, women to have more political rights, women 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:40.040 to have more economic rights. We made space for black people, 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:43.319 we made space for brown people. We didn't make everybody 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:47.040 equal by any means. That would be naive and silly 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:50.160 and foolish to think, but at least it got better. 0:08:51.200 --> 0:08:54.800 We changed our relationship to drugs, to marriage, to text, 0:08:55.120 --> 0:09:00.360 to everything. And Nixon and his folk hated every moment 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.760 of it. It was torture for them. They wanted the 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:08.720 old order returned, and so he says no. He says 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:14.680 no to NASA. Nixon interfering with NASA maybe not the 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:16.720 worst thing to ever happen in the world, but it 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:21.360 has a serious consequence. The Saturn five rocket that we 0:09:21.440 --> 0:09:24.120 launched to the Moon was never intended for the Moon. 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.840 Veranovon Brown didn't care about the Moon. We cared about Mars. 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:31.240 The whole goal was that the Moon was going to 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:34.520 be the first step to Mars. That's where we were going. 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.720 And so that same year NASA got stuck asking the 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.760 President permission to also go to Mars, and he said, 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:45.320 absolutely not. We're not wasting American tax payer dollars that 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:48.560 could be used to cut taxes for the rich and 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:54.000 fight the war in Vietnam. Nixon tried to identify what 0:09:54.160 --> 0:09:58.120 was the causes, what were the causes of that revolution 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:01.600 that we call the nineteen sixties, and he and his 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:07.120 friends concluded there were two things that caused this one 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:12.920 was the incredible US economy from nineteen forty eight to 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:16.640 nineteen seventy three. For twenty five years, the US economy 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:21.880 was so amazing that you could conceivably get a job. 0:10:22.320 --> 0:10:23.400 I mean a regular job. 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:28.800 I don't mean an amazing job, just a job, and 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:32.280 the pay would be so high and the benefits so 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.360 amazing that you could not only afford to buy a 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:38.760 house and feed your family, you might be able to 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:43.880 send your kids to school, to college, and you might 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:47.840 be able to retire really well. Picketty says in his 0:10:47.880 --> 0:10:50.959 book Capital in Twenty first Century that that was the 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:54.800 only time, in fact, in human history where a person 0:10:54.920 --> 0:11:00.800 could work and make wealth, because if you look at 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:02.840 the middle class today in the United States, they don't 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.160 make wealth. They barely get by. The difference between the 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:08.280 middle class and the lower class is that the middle 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:11.080 class has stable housing and the lower class doesn't have 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:14.839 stable housing. The wealth distance between the lower class and 0:11:14.880 --> 0:11:19.760 the middle class is negligible, it's meaningless. They're barely getting by. 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:26.000 But for twenty five years people were prospering. And what 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:30.120 they realize, it's Maslov's hierarchy of needs. If people aren't 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:33.520 fretting about food, If they're not worried about shelter, if 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:36.079 they're not in constant fear that the economic situation they're 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:39.040 in will collapse, they have mind space to start to 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:42.000 ask bigger and better questions like wait a minute, what 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:45.760 about civil liberties? What about civil rights? What about human rights? 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:49.080 And the next thing. You know, by nineteen fifty four, 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:53.000 six years into this explosive economy, we're in the middle 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:53.680 of a revolution. 0:11:57.400 --> 0:11:58.200 Okay, So. 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:02.839 There's a bit of a history lesson for everyone there, 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.000 and I hope that that serves to kind of frame 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:09.880 the conversation that we're having and want to continue to have. Now, 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:11.720 I got a few points that I want to share, 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:15.520 and then Q. Obviously I want you to jump in 0:12:16.240 --> 0:12:18.360 and share your points as well, but I will just 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:19.680 kind of burn. 0:12:19.480 --> 0:12:22.200 Through these pretty quickly because it is a lot to cover. 0:12:22.559 --> 0:12:26.600 So for folks that feel like it's hard work alone, 0:12:27.040 --> 0:12:29.400 I'm sure there's people that would agree that it's more 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:30.080 than just hard work. 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:32.120 But for folks that feel like, hey man, it's simple, 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:34.920 it's hard work. That's it. Just work, hard work, work, work, work, work, 0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:39.640 and you'll get it. I got something for you. Consider 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:42.839 I know. 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:47.560 Of a group of people whose whole mission in life 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:51.959 was just to work hard. That's all they did. They 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:55.240 worked hard, and then they died. They were called slaves, 0:12:55.920 --> 0:13:03.040 and hard work didn't change their station life. For those 0:13:03.080 --> 0:13:10.760 people that say, well, it's hard work plus opportunities, right, well, sure, 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:14.680 you know, I'd go along with that, But to be fair, 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:19.640 opportunities don't make their way to everybody. And so now 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:23.040 we're talking about systemic issues again because opportunities never made their. 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:25.599 Way to slaves. They worked hard, and you know you 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:27.480 have to see that one to me as. 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:33.840 Well, hard work plus opportunities plus intelligence. I would imagine 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:36.200 that it would be tough for somebody to suggest to 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:43.400 me that zero slaves were intelligent. It'd be foolish to 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:45.440 assume that these are human beings the same as any 0:13:45.480 --> 0:13:48.080 other human beings in the world, all homo sapien sapiens, 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:51.720 all with you know, more or less the same cognitive abilities. 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:52.000 Right. 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:56.800 For people that say, you know, these are people who 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:01.520 worked hard, have opportunities, or intelligent and have good. 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:04.760 Ideas well, slaves have an idea stolen. 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:06.920 And the reason I keep coming back to slavery is 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:11.840 because slavery is a form of systemic oppression and slavery, 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:13.920 of course has evolved. Black people are still very much 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:16.760 second class citizens in this country. And so I think 0:14:16.800 --> 0:14:20.120 that just that line of thinking kind of helps create 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:26.320 the framework that folks need to understand that the basis 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:30.080 for achieving success in this country, and the lack of 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:34.280 success that you find in marginalized communities is at least 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:41.120 due in part to systemic factors. Now, there are people 0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:42.960 who say, Okay, well, you know, we live in a 0:14:43.000 --> 0:14:46.160 post you know, racist society, slavery is over, blah blah blah, 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:53.479 you know whatever. But have we considered how employment opportunities 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:58.120 and advancement opportunities in employment have made their way to 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:01.080 black and brown people in this country? Have we considered 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:04.320 how educational opportunities have made their way to black and 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:09.160 brown people in this country? And still how the education 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.560 system in this country shapes outcomes. You know, for one 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:16.240 group of people who are in a higher income part 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:17.960 of town, you know, they have schools that are well 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:20.320 funded and well staffed, and they have you know, books 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:25.080 and you know, top tier curriculum. For other places, you know, 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:27.880 where the funding is a little lower, they have effectively 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:33.360 a school to prison pipeline. Where you know, behaviors are 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:37.320 not diagnosed, they're criminalized, you know, and there's no medication, 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:39.000 and there's you know, all this sort of stuff, right, 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:43.240 And I think that that follows the wealth line. But 0:15:43.320 --> 0:15:45.920 the wealth line follows the color line, the racial line 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:50.680 in this country. So again systemic factors. We're not talking 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:54.160 about how that wealth that it was accumulated and still 0:15:54.240 --> 0:15:59.080 gets accumulated, is passed from generation to generation. Inheritance. Now 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:00.680 there are people who pushed back and say, hey, I 0:16:00.680 --> 0:16:03.720 didn't get an inheritance. I wish I'd gotten inheritance. Sure, 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:07.560 but these things are shaping the data that we're seeing, 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:10.960 even if it doesn't affect you personally. Okay, we can 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:13.280 talk about banking opportunities, and this is a long list. 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:14.880 You know, I'm not going to go into everything, but 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:18.880 I'm wanting to paint a picture before I let you go, 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:23.600 que of how systemic factors could influence the data that 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:24.120 we're seeing. 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:25.000 You know. 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:27.000 So for people that say, hey, just get out there 0:16:27.000 --> 0:16:29.000 and get it, get to it and work hard and 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:33.680 you can accomplish anything, that American dream was true in 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:40.920 the early seventies, according to doctor Casagrande here and I 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:43.320 know why people feel that way, But it's not true now, 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:46.280 and it hasn't been true for fifty plus years, and 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:50.840 the huge drops in data have really manifested themselves in 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:52.760 the past fifty years. And we're going to make a 0:16:52.800 --> 0:16:54.680 case that Ronald Reagan had a lot to do with it, 0:16:54.760 --> 0:16:55.560 and so did Nixon. 0:16:56.040 --> 0:16:57.280 In the latter part of the show. 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:00.880 We haven't talked about, you know, cartural disadvantages and the 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:04.600 criminal justice system and how that criminalizes blackness and punishes 0:17:04.640 --> 0:17:07.760 blackness more than it does whiteness. We haven't talked about 0:17:07.760 --> 0:17:09.720 healthcare disadvantage. We haven't talked about a lot of things. 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:16.399 But these are all systemic issues, right. People will talk about, 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:18.720 you know, culture, and I think that that is a 0:17:19.240 --> 0:17:21.080 that is a straw man argument. 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:21.719 You know. 0:17:21.840 --> 0:17:24.119 Again, I've said in the past, I'll say it again, 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:30.960 poverty shapes culture. Culture does not shape poverty. It could 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:33.760 sustain it, sure, but it doesn't shape it. Right, So 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:35.640 you need to be impoverished and then the culture will 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:37.760 pour out of that. Right, So again we're back to 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:42.399 systemic issues, same twenty four hours in a day argument. 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:46.159 That's not necessarily true for everybody. You know, if I 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:47.680 wake up in the morning, and I have to take 0:17:47.720 --> 0:17:50.600 care of a sick parent or whatever. I don't have 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:53.320 the same twenty four hours as you. If you have 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:55.200 a car and I don't have a car, I don't 0:17:55.240 --> 0:17:57.199 have the same twenty four hours as you. I'm walking 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:00.239 to a bus stop and then walking when I get 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:02.720 to my destination. Right, you have more of your day 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:06.160 than I do. For people that are ultra wealthy, they 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:08.560 have drivers, they have more of their day than you 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:11.479 may have, right because they don't even have to do 0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:13.120 the driving. They can sit and work in the back 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:15.600 of their car and hustle all day. Sure, I'll see that, 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:22.080 and then I think that this myth that everybody can 0:18:22.080 --> 0:18:26.080 make it in this country and achieve wealth and whatever. 0:18:28.040 --> 0:18:30.320 On its face, it's silly because if you look at 0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:35.679 any corporate hierarchy, the stratification of a corporate you know, 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:38.560 framework you'll see that a lot of people on the 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:41.440 bottom make a little bit of money, and really it's 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:43.720 one person at the top that makes a lot of money. 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:46.520 So this idea on his faith is not supported by 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:51.360 basic mathematics. So I wanted to go into a little 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:53.960 bit more about him saying the difference between the middle 0:18:53.960 --> 0:18:58.200 class and poor is stable housing. But I don't want 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:00.000 to talk up the whole time. So you know, let's 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:03.520 let's tag you in here, Q and get your thoughts 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:05.919 and then you know, we'll run through the rest of it. 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:10.920 America loves the bootstrap story. 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:17.199 Oh yeah, you know what I mean. Work hard and 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:22.720 you too can be name your favorite CEO, and that 0:19:22.840 --> 0:19:25.679 illusion is part of why there's such a lack of 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:32.720 progress and making the exceptions the rule also play into 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:36.359 that narrative, right, like, how can you and Rams just 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:39.879 sit here and have this conversation without acknowledging the Barack 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:42.679 Obamas and the Oprah Winfreys and the Lebron james Is 0:19:42.720 --> 0:19:45.800 and the jay Zs of the world who have shown 0:19:45.880 --> 0:19:49.400 you that you too can work hard and reach these 0:19:49.640 --> 0:19:56.040 astronomical heights. And to the other end, exceptions like poor 0:19:56.080 --> 0:20:01.040 white people in this country who, even though white privilege exists, 0:20:01.720 --> 0:20:05.320 does not have a tangible effect on their day to 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:10.240 day outcomes, so they can, with clear logic, dismiss it 0:20:10.280 --> 0:20:14.359 as even a possibility, ignoring that we don't all start 0:20:15.680 --> 0:20:21.360 at the start line, ignoring that we don't all have 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:26.320 a zero base that we move forward from toward whatever 0:20:26.400 --> 0:20:32.200 our goal is. So these myths are hard to destroy 0:20:32.359 --> 0:20:35.679 because they have actual examples to point to that are 0:20:35.720 --> 0:20:39.640 clearly the exception that data doesn't support. However, for most 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:43.000 people's reality, their front door, their day to day is 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:46.320 all that they It is the only context that they have, 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:52.200 and that cognitive dissonance and that intentional kind of obtuse 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:56.840 thinking allows them to dismiss everything outside of what does 0:20:56.880 --> 0:20:59.480 the day look like for me? If I am a 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:02.919 poor white person in this country who can blame, you know, 0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:06.240 immigrants and people of color for my position in life, 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:09.359 and then turn on the television and see an announcement 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:12.359 that Jay z is now a billionaire, then Rams is 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:14.240 trying to explain to me that there's a such thing 0:21:14.280 --> 0:21:19.080 as white privilege seems nonsensical. And being able to manipulate 0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:21.400 the group of people who see the world through that 0:21:21.520 --> 0:21:28.240 lens is how we spend the next seventy years making 0:21:28.280 --> 0:21:33.399 no progress at all. That exception, even this moment in history, 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:36.280 was an exception to the rule, and we can point, hey, 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:40.639 those people worked really hard and they amassed wealth for 0:21:40.680 --> 0:21:45.760 their families, and you too can be once again, Mark Zuckerberg, 0:21:45.840 --> 0:21:50.440 Jeff Bezos, or whoever you know, the idea of wealth 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:52.919 is in your head when you have that internal conversation. 0:21:53.720 --> 0:21:56.560 Let's use the exceptions to shape the rule and pretend 0:21:56.600 --> 0:21:59.680 that all the other information and data that exists that 0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:04.159 proved moves the actual rule is false and your imagination. 0:22:05.520 --> 0:22:12.600 And because people have unfortunately become very very easy to manipulate. 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:14.800 If you can tap into the right emotion and the 0:22:14.840 --> 0:22:21.040 emotion of the day, you know, white supremacists hate, it 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:23.240 goes a really really long way towards that end. 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:27.639 Yeah, you know, I like you know that example that 0:22:27.720 --> 0:22:31.840 you use, because the truth is that I bet it 0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:37.399 would be hard for most people to name three black 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:47.439 success stories, three black millionaires that weren't celebrities, you know, 0:22:47.640 --> 0:22:50.720 people in their community, people in their you know whatever. Now, 0:22:50.880 --> 0:22:52.480 if you live in a place like Atlanta, if you 0:22:52.520 --> 0:22:54.240 live in a place like Detroit, you know, that might 0:22:54.280 --> 0:22:56.160 be a little easier. But for most people in this country, 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:57.840 they wouldn't be able to do it. They could all 0:22:57.960 --> 0:23:00.640 everybody can name a Lebron James or Baraco that sort 0:23:00.640 --> 0:23:07.520 of thing. But my point here is that you know 0:23:07.880 --> 0:23:13.480 that there are white businessmen and business women I'm sure 0:23:15.480 --> 0:23:19.720 who are in your community. They own a handful of 0:23:19.760 --> 0:23:24.320 restaurants or they own a handful of you know whatever. 0:23:24.320 --> 0:23:27.720 They work in textiles, or they work with raw materials, 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:32.720 lumber metals, you know whatever. They have a small operation 0:23:32.880 --> 0:23:37.040 where they you know, pick a thing and they've been 0:23:37.080 --> 0:23:39.800 able to achieve some success and buy the Mercedes and 0:23:39.840 --> 0:23:42.600 get the vacation home, and you know what, they have 0:23:42.680 --> 0:23:45.920 a staff of you know, thirty people, one hundred people 0:23:46.000 --> 0:23:47.320 whatever working for them. 0:23:48.400 --> 0:23:50.159 And that is plentiful. 0:23:52.800 --> 0:23:57.080 But the examples of black people reaching that level of 0:23:57.119 --> 0:24:00.000