Reply #55: The skewed sense of entitlement

[Brewman_Jax]

According to her, my mother's manager from years ago resented the fact that some black people received something that he didn't. My brother and I are Georgia Tech graduates, as well as the above mentioned manager. During our freshmen summer, we qualified for the Challenge program, a 6-week introduction to college life for minority students. This was started because more than half of minority students didn't return for their sophomore year, as opposed to roughly one-quarter of white students. The manager absolutely resented that fact because he received no academic help during his college years. Six weeks out of four years, and the work has to be done to stay in and graduate.

Another is that my father (another "undeserving black man" according to the caste system) worked for IBM for many years. The above-mentioned gentleman and his brother-in-law had applied and could not get hired permanently by IBM. Those facts also annoyed him greatly. Again, the fact that someone black got something that he didn't caused his WASP hackles to rise. My mother actually secretly enjoyed his chagrin. For all of his qualifications and other accomplishments, the fact that "those people" got something he didn't seemed to gnaw at him.

The fact that he could be so angry and resentful in light of actual and historical facts of US history goes back to a basic fact of a racial caste system--the sense or right of entitlement. One of the unspoken beliefs held by too many, even too many on the left/liberal/progressive side of politics. It's not that being white makes one worthy, but being black (or not white) makes one unworthy. The upper caste is automatically "qualified" for any and every position. Members of the lower caste can't possibly be qualified and should just be pushed aside, regardless of actual qualifications.