>Growing up people like Nas & Quincy Jones were idols even if I was never interested in making a career in music, simply because they made it. My intention was

>Growing up people like Nas & Quincy Jones were idols even if I was never interested in making a career in music, simply because they made it. My intention wasn't to denigrate the achievements of black entertainers. My point is that these people are constantly held up as the model of "making it", reinforcing the idea that "making it" in life is equivalent to "earning lots of money", regardless of what you spend your life actually doing. Combine that with the astronomical odds of actually succeeding in those fields versus, say, just encouraging people to stay in school and strive for decent careers (as white parents/society teaches white kids), and this attitude becomes a huge contributing factor to African American poverty in my opinion.