When you have been taught since you were a toddler that cops are evil, every problem you have is because of race, and that to survive you must steal, would such advice seem true to you?
I have a strong dislike of people from one town north of where I grew up, because of what my grandpa said all of my childhood. Stupid and odd, but that was imprinted on me.
Now if your entire family and social group is doing that, you will believe them more than some random person who doesn’t understand you. Even if it is your spouse.
“You can take the boy out the country, but not the country out of the boy!”
Ah, now here we are getting back to my earlier mention of what Booker Washington called race hustlers.
First: he clearly didn’t think everyone claiming to be a leader to be a race hustler, nor should we.
I think what he might say that clearly separates someone fighting for civil rights from a mere race hustler is when there’s progress the former goes back to their life (at least with respect to any actual progress) where the latter doubles down (because happier and more content people simply will not need them at some point).
But going back to what he actually wrote, part of his point was that such persons make their living keeping problems going.
To this I’ve observed that as real progress is made these same race hustlers face the problem of becoming unemployable UNLESS they can push the boundaries of what constitutes racism etc.
Thus, ironically, the less offensive society becomes the more easily people are offended or the less oppressive society becomes the more time people have to feel oppressed by things that really don’t matter to their lives.
And all of this I would attribute to the needs of the few, to keep getting a paycheck, trumping the good of the many ... who might be better off being happier and more content, being able to realize that these are not the bad old days.