To understand my true motives would mean that you have lived my life. To endure to the unbridled contempt of the many and the indifference of the few sounds easier than it is. A lifetime of scorn and ridicule renders one disillusioned. Two outcomes stem from that kind of situation. One leads to limitations, the other, leads to the pertinacious desire to break them. The vast majority fall into the former category. Find a truly oppressed minority and you will nary find a one of them with serious delusions of grandeur about their lot in life. Furthermore, you will not likely find a person with aspirations far above that of the most basic existence. The members of my family were filled with such desires as simply wanting to live out their lives, form a family and make a good enough living to provide for their children. Mine was not significantly different from the norm. Fortunately, my outlook was somewhat different.
Through extensive rumination, I have concluded that the true culprit for minorities' lack of desire for advancement lies within two of society's idiosyncrasies.
I use the softened term, idiosyncrasies, rather than, say, blatant prejudice because I realize that the majority of people of all walks of life are equally ignorant and/or duped by their governors. Anyone and everyone can relate to that. A simple way to prove this is to ask oneself, how often do I find myself saying/thinking/insinuating that someone else is stupid/dumb/inferior? If that person is truthful with him/herself, they will find that they do. More often than they care to remember. Now, imagine that every other person in the world thinks the exact same way, except, towards different people. It is easy to stipulate that virtually everyone who has ever existed has now been labeled stupid. The first quirk of society that contributes to minority underachievement is the society's relentless accusations of superiority. Virtually all people, at some point in their lives, have at least a fleeting thought similar to, "You never see (insert race here) getting arrested for drive-by shootings or beating up their wives." The extent that these types of thoughts pervade an individual's choices in life varies. The effect that they have on society is steady and predictable. If they occur at all in a society, the 'inferior' race is the group that is most often the target of such oversimplified thought. The second oddity of the social structure is that the race made out to be inferior, is infused with the sense of helplessness to the point that it is second nature. Severe and often violent opposition to advancement of the downtrodden by the dominant peoples usually elicits and preserves this sense. Once this injustice is fully assimilated by society, the inferior race usually capitulates to the majority and begins to withdraw into its allotted place in the world.
Earlier, I mentioned the two outcomes of a person's minority group being oppressed. I also stated that the vast majority of the people in the group simply curb their expectations and desires so as not to incur the wrath of the superordinates. The others refuse to be held down by the powerful. I am one of these people.