As a southerner, showing Self Esteem could be misunderstood as White Supremacy.

So I know alot of white people who have trouble talking about themselves proudly around black people. They get nervous and downplay everything. But alot of the time, I tell them be happy for what you are and who you are.

There is a thin line between pride and arrogance.

Blacks struggle with it too. Some of the "afrocentric" heads take the black thing too far. I'm proud to be black and will say it whenever pertinent. But everything doesnt boil down to race.

Now the true issue, is that race is starting to take a backseat to money. I think nowadays upper-class whites (who were and still are the majority of the class) are seeing minorities as allies. Upper Class blacks can be just as bad as upper class whites when it comes down to the bottom line.

And those who dont have (aka the have-nots) will always get the shaft, just in all honesty, they get all the breaks because of the way society is built.

The middle class (which is where the blacks are predominantly represented {dont care what the statistics say}) inherit all of the problems. Similar to what a poster said earlier, those with parents that work get loans, the rich get scholarships and the poor get subsidized/grant/scholarships.

I remember actually telling my parents to split up so I can be eligible for a scholarship.

So race is a problem but we really need to get a Collective Barganing Agreement going and get some revenue sharing cause thats where the problems lie.