I am a white male in my forties living in the poorest country in Europe experiencing a horrific Russian invasion — Ukraine. I read a lot about African Americans picking up radical left slogans and complaining about “white privilege”, “systemic racism,” etc. In this article, I will attempt to explain why being an African American is a privilege and not a detriment.

The Phantom of Injustice

The most common notion in the US is that black Americans are disadvantaged because of “a legacy of slavery” that their ancestors experienced two centuries ago. In May 2023 Missouri Democratic Rep. Cori Bush has introduced a legislation calling for $14 trillion in reparations for Black Americans.

Bills introduced in the House and Senate would create a commission to address “the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery in the United States and the 13 American colonies between 1619 and 1865” .

The renowned African-American academic, economist and writer Thomas Sowell warned against the dangers of such populist moves in his book “Black Rednecks and White Liberals.”

«The general orientation of white liberals has been one of “What can we do for them?” What blacks can do for themselves has not only been of lesser interest, much of what blacks have in fact already done for themselves has been overshadowed by liberal attempts to get them special dispensations — whether affirmative action, reparations for slavery, or other race-based benefits — even when the net effect of these dispensations has been much less than the effects of blacks’ own self-advancement.»

The literary works of Thomas Sowell are largely overlooked by the American populace, despite his sound and pragmatic perspectives being in opposition to mainstream leftist ideology. His book focuses on the following points:

1. Black American culture is, in fact, a redneck culture that was imported to the US South from Britain.

2. The practice of slavery was a universal phenomenon.

3. White Europeans, particularly the British, made a significant effort to end global slavery.

4. Social state benefits have ruined African-American families and have impeded African Americans’ advancement until this day.

5. African Americans do not require special treatment from the government, as they can achieve high positions in society as famous African American graduates from Dunbar High School and Oberlin College.

Let’s look at a few of these points:

Slavery was a universal phenomenon that was eradicated by the Europeans.

Of course, slavery is terrible, lethal, and degrading to human dignity. In the past, it was almost certain that you would end up as a slave if you lost a war or were the victim of a raid. All races were subjected to slavery, whether it was Vikings raiding European shores, Ottoman Turks capturing white boys and girls in the Balkans, or my native Ukrainian. Slaves were used to build Roman roads, the Great Wall of China, and Mayan pyramids. The fact is that African tribes enslaved other tribes, just as they did anywhere else.

The historians John Thornton and Linda Heywood of Boston University estimate that 90 percent of those shipped to the New World were enslaved by Africans and then sold to European traders.

The sad truth is that the conquest and capture of Africans and their sale to Europeans was one of the main sources of foreign exchange for several African kingdoms for a very long time. Slaves were the main export of the kingdom of Kongo; the Asante Empire in Ghana exported slaves and used the profits to import gold.

When the British Empire resolved to fight global slavery as an evil phenomenon, things changed dramatically. The British government spent a lot of money and effort to stop raider ships from capturing and trading slaves.

«While the British could simply abolish slavery in their Western Hemisphere colonies, they faced a more daunting and longer-lasting task of patrolling the Atlantic off the coast of Africa, in order to prevent slave ships of various nationalities from continuing to supply slaves illegally.» Thomas Sowell

What about 20th-century slavery?

Living under Jim Crow laws wasn’t fun for African Americans. However, being a slave in a Soviet GULAG camp was far worse than that. Around 14 million people are estimated to have passed through gulag camps during 1930–1953, carrying out dangerous tasks like mining, clearing forests, and working in frigid subarctic temperatures. Many prisoners served 25 years in the GULAG system if they survived disease, malnutrition, low temperatures, accidents, torture, etc. The situation of peasants was not much better. They were prohibited from departing their villages in the USSR due to a lack of passports, and they were relegated to the role of surfs until 1969.

Is it reasonable to ask for reparations for what happened to your ancestors 200 years ago? What about the compensation from Benin and Ghana, which actively participated in the slave trade? Should Ukraine and Moldova also pursue reparations from Turkey for the ‘inhumanity of slavery’? What about the brave white men who died during the Civil War in the United States? Should their ancestors also be compensated by Black Americans for their deaths in a battle to abolish slavery?

If we follow the trite path of historical revisionism, it will either result in a massive financial meltdown or, even worse, a massive bloodbath, or both. Ask the Germans if you don’t believe me.

White Privilege

Leftist ideologues believe that I (a white male) have an automatic privilege. Does it matter if I live in the poorest country in Europe? Fearing that a Russian rocket will hit my home and bury my family alive whenever I hear a siren? No?

OK, what if I move to the US? Will I be privileged immediately after leaving JFK?

No, I am not a citizen of the United States.

What if I get a green card?

No, because I am not a citizen.

What happens if I become a citizen of the U.S.?

The answer is still no. Because you have been a citizen of the most prosperous, free, and advanced country in the world since birth.

Let me tell you a story. I used to live in Stamford, Connecticut and worked in the construction business from 1996 to 1998. I worked on all kinds of woodwork, mostly in Greenwich, Connecticut, a wealthy town where houses cost around $1 million and higher. Construction work was strictly segregated: Italian Americans were the big bosses responsible for subcontracting work, Irish Americans did electricity and plumbing, while Poles and Ukrainians did framing and roofing, and Latinos did landscaping.

And you know what? I have never seen a single African American working on a construction.

The guys I’ve worked with were really humble people who spent 10 hours a day building million-dollar houses for ten bucks an hour. They usually stayed in the US without permission, lived modestly, sent money to their families, shared cheap apartments on the outskirts, didn’t go anywhere (except New York), and drank booze on weekends.

They have even saved money on health insurance. I remember my neighbor falling from the third floor and breaking five bones. He was lying in bed at home because he didn’t want to spend money on hospitals. His family didn’t know anything had happened.

So why haven’t I seen any African Americans on the construction site?

The simple answer is that US citizens (including African Americans) are privileged enough to avoid nailing shingles to plywood under the blazing sun and choose a “clean” job with an air conditioner, all the benefits and higher income. Not only Americans, but illegal immigrants and internal migrants from all over the world are willing to accept unpopular jobs in wealthy countries or cities. Working long hours and putting their health and lives at risk to seize the opportunity that was not available to them. Those Americans I’ve encountered working in construction did only high-paying jobs like plumbing and electricity, and I am certain that their grandparents were in the same positions as Poles and Ukrainians in 1998.

This phenomenon was also described by Thomas Sowell:

«In many countries around the world, minorities with virtually no political power or other means of discriminating against the majority population have nevertheless been far more successful — economically, educationally, or otherwise — than those who constitute the bulk of the nation’s people. This has long been true of the Chinese in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines, Germans in Russia and Brazil, Jews in Eastern Europe and the United States, Lebanese in West Africa, Scots in North America and Australia, and the Japanese in Brazil, Canada, the United States, and Peru. Clearly, in these and other cases, the minority has simply outperformed the majority population, often in both the educational system and the economic system.»

So next time you think about reparations, walk to a nearby deli shop where hard-working Korean immigrants spend 14 hours a day in self-imposed slavery. When you think of white privilege, visit some construction sites and observe Eastern European guys working their asses off. When you think about racial injustice, drive to that parking lot where Latinos stand the whole day waiting for someone to pick them up for a job, like in the old Biblical times.

The Ode to Meritocracy

Thomas Sowell proved that African Americans do not need special treatment from the government and can be successful without outside aid. The fact that alums of Oberlin College, the first college in America to adopt a policy to admit black students (1835), and the most successful Dunbar school for black kids, not only excelled academically. But also held high positions in American society, long before the Civil Rights movement, backs up his point.

An ex-slave and Oberlin graduate, Blanche Kelso Bruce was the first African American to serve a full six-year term in the United States Senate; the first black woman in the world to receive a college-level degree, Mary Jane Patterson, was an alumna; the first black player in professional baseball, Moses Fleetwood Walker, was an Oberlin alumnus.

Dunbar High School educated generations of Black leaders in fields such as law, education, science, and engineering. Celebrated graduates include Sterling Brown, H. Naylor Fitzhugh, Nannie Helen Burroughs, Charles R. Drew, William H. Hastie, Charles Hamilton Houston, Robert Heberton Terrell, Benjamin O. Davis Jr., Paul Capel III, Robert C. Weaver, and James E. Bowman.

Let’s take a look at a contemporary example. You’ve probably heard about David Goggins. This guy had a rough childhood, didn’t do well at school, and had to deal with racism and injustice, but all of this didn’t stop him from becoming the 36th African-American Navy SEAL in United States Navy SEAL history. He also graduated from Army Ranger School, became an ultra-marathon runner, and became a best-selling author. He didn’t want special treatment or entitlement; he just “grinded” to be the best.

“You aren’t missing out on opportunities, making shit money, and getting evicted because of America or Donald f*ing Trump or because your ancestors were slaves or because some people hate immigrants or Jews or harass women or believe gay people are going to hell. If any of that shit is stopping you from excelling in life, I’ve got some news. You are stopping you!”

Marxist theories such as systemic racism, white privilege, and intersectionality divide society like they did back in the 19th and 20th centuries, making enemies of workers and capitalists. As we know today, it all ended in a huge global bloodbath of Bolsheviks, Maoists, Red Khmers and other communist regimes.

No wonder that Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of “Black Lives Matter,” called themselves “trained Marxists” and that the activity of BLM brought the US closer to the brink of civil war.

It is not your childhood trauma or an unjust society that is holding you back. It is all about vices and virtues. Only perseverance and temperance helped David Goggins become the 36th black American Navy SEAL in history. Prudence and diligence made Thomas Sowell the voice of reason not only for Black Americans but for many people across the world.

«Oberlin College and Dunbar High School, as well as in black colleges established in the South by New Englanders — did not promote pride in the existing black redneck culture. On the contrary, the clear message in these enclaves was that the way most blacks talked, the way they behaved, and the whole set of redneck values they inherited, were all wrong and were things to be overcome. The wholly disproportionate number of black leaders and high achievers who came out of these small enclaves is further evidence in the case of “pride” versus “selfhate.» Thomas Sowell

Conclusion

If you read any book on self-improvement, you will find this leitmotif everywhere: when you place responsibility for your life on someone else (parents, society, etc.), you are literally giving control over your destiny to outside powers. It is easier to blame WASPs for your failures, than to “grind” like David Goggins. It is easier to blame Asians for dominating US universities than to study hard and graduate from Harvard University with magna cum laude like Thomas Sowell did. Likewise, it is easier to blame illegal immigrants for taking jobs away than to go and actually work as a carpenter or a roofer.

As an old saying goes,

“Everyone is a smith of his own happiness”.

So, stop blaming; start taking responsibility.

“It is unfair and unrealistic and can be destructive to place the responsibility of your happiness on anybody else.” Will Smith

If you are still not convinced, I would happily change my Ukrainian white privilege for your US citizenship.