The way my life has unfolded, I have had a considerable amount of contact/association with blacks. I went to schools with blacks that have been materially successful and with whom I maintain contact to this day. OTOH, I went to school with blacks (a couple were friends) who were dead before I got out of college.
Ok, that's all prologue to this (off the wall?) observation. I believe that blacks may be (for whatever reason) more risk averse than other segments of our population. I wish someone would do a study/paper on this hypothesis. It intrigues me.
Hmm, well I'm not Mh but playing Devil's advocate I would observe that with respect to risk aversion trying for a career in entertainment or sports (or playing the lottery) is hugely risky, yet young blacks will often set those professions as a goal. To me this would reflect a "shoot-the-moon" philosophy rather than risk aversion.
Maybe the problem is that the more traditional path of getting an education, working hard and grinding your way up the ladder is held in lower regard? Or, in the case of entrepeneurship (sp?) the traditional way of starting small and growing gradually is disdained?
I firmly believe the path to black success has to come from within, but how to achieve that is another story. Black leadera are not exhorting people to work hard and stop having babies so young. White conservatives (like me) generally seem to be viewed with suspicion and distrust, while white liberals will pretty much echo the black leaders. Black conservatives are often vilified by the press and academia. One other impediment is that a frank discussion on this and other race relations is rarely heard, in fact this board is about the only place I see it.
I think it depends on which blacks you meet --- the military is full of blacks who aren't risk averse and are doing what they can to pull themselves up. When you look at intact black families, their kids are doing pretty well --- at least as well as any others even if they aren't wealthy. Inner city or welfare blacks have some pretty bad problems that makes it hard for them to get ahead even if they wanted to. It's got to be very difficult to raise kids in some of those neighborhoods with the drugs and crime ---- but some do seem to manage.