If I Were A Poor Black Kid

I STRONGLY disagree with Gene Marks' article, "If I Were A Poor Black Kid". He puts himself in the place of a young, African American, and impoverished boy. He explains all of the "simple" steps he would take to advance himseslf in society and to become a huge success in life. But it is absolutly unreasonable! He sets incredibly high goals about what will be neccessary steps in order for them to gain success, which requires far more time, effort, and resorces than students in middle class have to put into their education. Even if stuents took all of the steps he suggests to improve their chances of getting into a good college and becomeing a success in any career they desire, them taking these steps and using these resources he talks about such as the computers at the public library, they are taking them away from other students. This means that it would be first come, first serve and if a student lives further away from these public resources than others, they would lose their opportunity to use them and would remain lower in their class. If the student had to work after school and at night because his or her family was struggling financially, as so many are in this time in America, they would not have the time to devote to their studies and to travel to these public resources like other students might. It is completely unreasonable to assume that all impoverished African Americans could just follow his step-by-step plan and end racial inequality in America. It is infuriating to think that someone could be so naive as to think that if an impoverished minority in this country could have just as many opportunities for success as an upper-class white citizen and that any opportunities that they are not qualified for is their own fault. The reason his article caused such an uproar is because most people understand that his ideas are unreasonable and unrealistic. He assumes that all poor students have these resources available to them, that they have the time to spend traveling to and from them, and that they can all achieve this kind of success and end racism and inequality across the nation.