Up From Slavery by Booker T Washington. Teaches you anything is possible despite your circumstance. Thankful my kids have read it and taken it to heart. This should be a must read for anyone IMO.

More recently, Disparities and Discrimination by Thomas Sowell was a real eye opener for me.

> For all that went wrong for blacks, they generally didn't flee on boats with only the shirts on their backs after witnessing a quarter of the people that they grew up with being killed. Only to land in a country where they didn't speak the language, or understand the culture, and were generally disliked.

This is literally what happened through the Atlantic slave trade.. just replace "flee" w/ "were sold".

> I'm drawing from my thoughts and other comments here. The determination that it takes to be a refugee. True hope that they can create a better life. A culture of helping fellow minority members. A certainty that no matter what the frustration, it really could be worse.

> Now can we encourage those attitudes in blacks? I believe so.

I know that these characteristics have been shown time and time again within the black community. If you want to see a culture of helping fellow minority members look to the NAACP, if you want to see an example of determination please read "Up From Slavery", if you want to understand the hope to create a better life read "The Warmth of Other Suns".

My argument is not "things are out of your control" nor is it that there is something lacking in the black community that other successful minorities have demonstrated.. my argument is "here are the institutional and systemic barriers that are present -- if you want to understand the present situation and how to move forward you must understand them".

Rising inequality and the expansion of the welfare state have transformed "self-made" into an aspiration. Even prior to the gilded age being "self-made" was rare.. only a few people were able to pull themselves up to success. If you want to read an American self-made tale pick up "Up From Slavery".

Anyway, I grew up lower-middle class. My parents were immigrants and we came from the poorest country in the western hemisphere (Haiti) with no generational wealth. I don't consider myself 'self-made', I'd say there was a mix of luck, support from the state (rent control, FAFSA, EITC, etc.) and self directed hard work.

It sounds like to me that the author got some "generational help" and feels like they were not able to capitalize, unlike some of the other profiled in this article. And thus is taking a zero-sum view of the concept of "self-made".

Most parent's would do anything for their kids lives to end up better than theirs did. I won't have any qualms about paying my kids tuition or helping with a down payment when the time comes.