Born on third base post #1

This book was very reminiscent of my senior of high school. During which, I enrolled in a contemporary literature class that opened my eyes in remarkable ways regarding topics like privilege and institutional racism. I also recognized parallels to concepts that I learned about in my “psychology of prejudice and discrimination” class that I took at my CC last year.  Reading this book was an excellent complement to my previous experience with this topic area-- providing me with interesting new perspectives and ways to think about hidden advantages that allow me to succeed. What I took from this book was not that I should squander the opportunities I have in my life; rather, to better appreciate the institutional and historical advantages that have made these opportunities possible.

I particularly liked the reference to the myth of deservedness. It is incredibly difficult, but equally important to recognize the help that we received in obtaining our position and successes and life. It would be much easier in fact, to let ourselves believe that our good fortune is a result of hard work and intelligence rather than the crushing realization that we had chips stacked in our favor. Money and social position is not a fair assessment of character or work ethic.

Later in the book, Collins references the “great man theory” in which people reject the estate tax because they feel that their sacrifices and their work mean they don’t have to give to a government that “didn’t give them any handouts.” This in itself may seem like a logical argument from a libertarian perspective, but it ignores the great benefits that we reap from living in this country. We have an obligation to support the system that allowed us to succeed.

I enjoyed Collin’s anecdote about asking audience members what they thought about the wealthy and whether they wanted to be wealthy themselves. Audience members simultaneously admired the rich for the progress they have created in our society, disliked them for their parts in creating greed and wickedness and also wanted to be rich themselves. The complexity that he started to unravel intrigued me because I have observed many of these ideas. When we think about a vague abstraction of wall street or the 1 percent it is easy to unify and collectively despise their collective power, but at the same time if any one of us had the opportunity to become as wealthy it would be a precious few rejecting that offer. I believe this highlights the nuances in how our society treats and thinks about the most wealthy in our society.

The bike story was a great analogy for how we can be unwitting benefactors of privilege. For example, as kids are raised in ecologically rich, interaction laden environments they are gaining huge advantages over peers who would be raised in urban environments with far fewer parental interactions. This allows the former children to develop skills like financial literacy, soft skills and confidence to go after opportunities presented to them. In a land of supposed equal opportunity-- there is a great deal of inequality beneath the surface.

Lastly, I appreciated Collins talking about how the intersection of race affects wealth accumulation as well. Post-WW2 the GI bill allowed white soldiers to affordable mortgage homes and begin accumulating wealth; however, soldiers of color were denied this golden goose of an opportunity.