m-a-t-h

I have a word of advice for black people-- a simple, four-letter monosyllable that will solve all their problems.  That word is 'math.'  M-a-t-h.  In the first place, if black folks got good at math, racial prejudice would basically disappear.  To the extent that racism is based on the perception of intellectual inferiority-- and that's a big extent-- having black people be good at math would dispel the perception.

But it goes beyond that.  The fact is, the modern world is based on math.  Science, technology, computers, engineering, all that stuff, requires a modicum of mathematical-logical competence.  People who have that competence can get jobs in those fields, good jobs.  People who don't, can't.  This is why the only black people you see in Silicon Valley are the guys emptying the trash after hours.

Jesse Jackson once lectured Silicon Valley entrepreneurs that they needed to 'groom' black people to fill these jobs.  No, that's just another variation on the theme that only other people can solve black people's problems.  That's not the way it works in the real world.