A friend of mine and I recently had a political discussion that I found disturbing. He told me that a long-time family friend had come to his house the weekend before.  His friend was an academic and a black man, and their dinner discussion involved whether black men can get a fair shake in today’s world, professionally, relative to white men.  In short, his friend argued that institutional racism holds black men down, while America offers some unspoken and unquantifiable “privilege” enjoyed by white men. My friend and I have had several political conversations in the past.  In general, we tend to agree on many things.  I suppose this is why he felt comfortable in telling me that he told his friend that the exact opposite is true.  Black men are not held down by institutional forces.  In fact, he said, if a black candidate and a white candidate were vying for the same position, he would probably offer the black man the job...(Read Full Article)