Slate Magazine has posted an interesting article from the summer of 1990 showing an earnest looking Barack Obama (much younger of course), musing about getting jobs after law school:

The last thing that Barack Obama will have to worry about next year when he graduates is job offers. Obama finished his second year at Harvard Law School this spring and has been elected to lead the Harvard Law Review, a prestigious position traditionally reserved for a top student.

“It’s a great time to be a young black law school graduate - if you’re from Harvard and in the top quarter of your class,” said Obama. But the point is that there are a lot of talented young minorities who may not have been able to go to the top schools. For example, a lot of minorities go to state schools due to financial constraints.

I suggest there are a lot of people, of all races and creeds with this “problem”. The reason people are willing to go into $250,000 debt before they even start a job is because the possibility of getting a lucrative position jumps off the “job” Richter scale. A Harvard Law School Diploma is almost a guarantee of a “good” life for you.

The article continues, I suggest reading the whole thing (it is not very long), but I love this ending:

It has been said, Obama noted, that it may be time to ask if minorities are getting the same right to be “mediocre” as white males. 

I’m going to say what my Mom used to tell me (I can’t believe I’m going to quote my Mom!): Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing; worry about yourself. What does it matter if a bunch of white males are slackers? Take advantage of it and outperform them! I know what he is trying to say, that a lot of these slackers have family contacts that will get them great positions at the expense of other minorities. Well welcome to the club. A lot of high performing white guys don’t have those contacts and will not get those positions either.

It is the way of the world and has been around for as long as humanity has been going on big bear hunts and leaving some of the guys at home because they weren’t related to the Chief or something.

The problem with these arguments on racial equality is understanding basic human behavior and acknowledging that all people have pretty much the same set-backs and not blaming it on something it is not.