I haven't read the whole article yet, but I found this statement to be quite interesting. It is a statement from one of Ogbu's former research associates trying to explain a different cause for the disparity:
"What I found, the requirements in school compelled them to act in ways as if they weren't living in black bodies but who were essentially white or mainstream Americans.... Kids found it difficult to deal with that and they found strategies to deal with it. They had to speak a certain variety of English in order to be successful. They had to buy into the ideas that dominate mainstream America. ... Black kids couldn't just be who they were."
Personally, I think this speaks volumes about the current black/white racial tensions in America. I certainly don't speak for every white person, but I think this sounds like at least some black people, like this particular researcher, want it both ways. They are frustrated when they see pockets of society with very little or no black representation and look at it as being unfair or possibly a racist community, but then at the same time it seems that they don't even want to be a part of that culture anyway.
I will say this though... the vast majority of companies I have every experienced working for or with value "whiteness": speaking Standard English, dressing in at least what is considered business casual, and performing well in previous academic settings. If black people want to blame everything on being forcefully kept in a lower socio-economic status by being "who they were", then things will never change. Employers are going to choose candidates who speak Standard English and were successful academically over candidates who speak non-Standard English and were mediocre to poor students 999 times out of 1000. If who you are isn't one of those 999, then well tough luck but the keys to at least getting in the door to success are pretty obvious. I don't think there is anything wrong with that, I'm sorry. They only exceptions I can think of are those that would receive some sort of incentive for hiring the "less professional" person due to that person being a member of some sort of minority or disadvantaged group.
You can ride the train. All you have to do is get on. If you choose not to, don't shake your fist when it leaves the station and you're still on the platform.
