Heights

So I came upon a LinkedIn post this morning, extolling the achievements of LeBron James. I won't link to it, because this isn't meant to be a call-out, and the poster meant well. But what was intended to be praise for Mr. James for overcoming obstacles read like a litany of stereotypes about African-Americans, especially men. And some of them seemed nonsensical in context. Of course Mr. James didn't have a college education. He was a first round draft pick out of high school. I wouldn't have gone to college either of someone had instead offered me a professional job with six-figure salary. After all, my reason for going to college was get a good job.

Mr. James is an exceptionally skilled basketball player. He's also too tall to walk through my front door without stooping. That overcomes a lot.

But so does simply living life.

Lots of people grow up with single parents and little money. They don't go to college. They do go on to have productive lives. They don't have trouble with the law. They're good parents. No-one thinks that college courses should be taught about them. Because the majority of Black people are just people, who, for the most part, simply do their day-to-day under the radar.

Mr. James is different from most Black people (like myself, for instance) in the fact that he's married. And he's different from pretty much everybody in the fact that he's a top-tier professional athlete. And he appears to be good with money (or good at finding people to help him manage it); it would be surprising if he, a few years after retirement, was bankrupt, a fate more likely to befall athletes than the rest of the population.

In the end, I get it. Everyone loves a rags-to-riches story, especially one centered on a Good Guy and that's built on a lot of work, natural talent, good fortune and a bit of help from biology. But it's a good story (if not exactly an attainable one) without needing to focus on the negative portrayals of Black people in America. It would have been just as remarkable had Mr. James been born wealthy and headed for the Ivy League. Lifting people up doesn't require pushing others down.