“Are we wondering whether or not there exists systemic inequalities based on race? Did Mr. Sowell examine the educational background of those West Indies & African blacks at Harvard to see where they received their education? I would be hard pressed to believe that they were educated in Los Angeles public schools.

Where in the past racial inequality was enforced legally (read - “slavery” & “Jim Crow”), now we have much the same practice of racial inequality enforced by economics (read “Prop 13″ & “LAUSD” - assuming that the legal enforcement of slavery & Jim Crow could ever be considered totally economically neutral.

As an example - just because my wife - a Mexican immigrant - went to a private elite college only 3 1/2 years after coming to the US and learning English, doesn’t mean that a system of inequality based on race doesn’t exist. For one, she was priviledged to a solid educational foundation in Mexico (her younger sisters didn’t ‘make it’ so well). Second, the classic lie of this Horatio Alger story of “pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is “If 1 person or even group can do it, then everyone should be able to.” These exceptions only prove the inequality, they don’t eliminate it.”

What do you think?

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