Freedom from generational poverty is required. A lot of PoC in the US grow up in dire straights which weighs on their mental health. Their chance at a university education drops rapidly when they have a network that depends upon them working from adolescence onward.
My grandfather worked selling cookies for decades and retired with a pension. My father worked as a professional engineer and midlevel manager at least as long and had less to show for it. I'm trying to work my way into upper management and will likely retire later and with less than either of them.
People feel the walls closing in on them. Telling them to buy more lottery tickets, albeit in the form of founding companies, isn't an answer that scales.
People really do get all up in their feelings on this issue and end up making emotional arguments based on anecdotes. Oprah Winfrey is an anecdote. Somebody's grandfather starting a business in an 8x8 shack is an anecdote.
What isn't an anecdote is slavery, the politcal and economic disenfranchisement of the Reconstruction Era, segregation, redlining, HOAs (which were started to keep black people out [1]), access to free college education (with the GI Bill), access to cheap mortgages to create generational wealth through property, the resulting decay in infrastructure and education thanks to the resultant "White Flight", over-policing and disproportionate outcomes in the criminal justice system.
There are over 1000 billionaires in the US now, most of them homegrown most likely. There are about 14 black billionaires (27 globally, apparently). This includes Oprah, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and LeBron James. 15% of the US population is black.
The "just invest in stocks" pseudo-advice is this generation's "let them eat cake" A large percentage of the US population do not have disposable income. They are often working several jobs just to live. The "Millionaire Next Door" is more often than not just some guy who bought a house in the 1980s and sat on it.
> Musk made his fortune out of a $20,000 investment from his dad.
And had a neighbor in the same line of work, who were apparently savy enough to fire him before he tanked the combined company on a useless rewrite. Also committed immigration fraud in the process. A much higher risk activity RN given the thirst for mass deportations.
> Gates made his from $5,000 from his dad.
And his mother's IBM connections, which were far more important than 50K.
Regardless, still cherry picking anecdotes when most folks have to live without such connections or family backups.
Musk arrived in the US with nothing but a suitcase and a few dollars. He stayed in a youth hostel for a while, and then took on minimum wage jobs. He had zero connections in the US.
5K != 50K
Also, Gates was very successful before MSDOS. IBM would have found him anyway.
You're right that connections matter. Smart people build connections. College is a classic way of doing that. People with similar interests tend to find each other.
What doesn't work is sitting in mom's basement playing video games and moaning about how unfair it all is.
Freedom from generational poverty is required. A lot of PoC in the US grow up in dire straights which weighs on their mental health. Their chance at a university education drops rapidly when they have a network that depends upon them working from adolescence onward.
My grandfather worked selling cookies for decades and retired with a pension. My father worked as a professional engineer and midlevel manager at least as long and had less to show for it. I'm trying to work my way into upper management and will likely retire later and with less than either of them.
People feel the walls closing in on them. Telling them to buy more lottery tickets, albeit in the form of founding companies, isn't an answer that scales.