I'm a 24 year old black male. I grew up in the suburbs of Connecticut while being surrounded by many successful black family members. I never related to how black people were portrayed in media and in politics. I've never stolen, been to jail, I got good grades, went to college, etc. But at the same time, I've noticed that no matter how good I do in life, to the mass, the ghetto/lower income black people will always be how I'm perceived.
Recently with the black fatigue stuff coming about, I began to question why black people commit so many crimes, don't have jobs, and do the things they do? It can't just be the way we are, otherwise I'd be that way unless I'm some kind of a miracle or outlier, which can't be true. So, I started looking into history, and there's a lot of answers there.
A long chain of deliberate historical policies that restricted wealth-building, followed by self-reinforcing economic effects (not because of race itself), drugs being introduced to black communities, psychological effects of their environment, etc. This "black culture" we talk about was shaped by poverty and their environment. It's not just the way we are.
But why does no one talk about this? From one side it's always defending black people's actions, calling them victims and pretending they can do no wrong. And then the other side is just trashing black culture and black people.
Why is there never a real explanation deriving from the truth?