The Rules of Fortune

by Danielle Prescod

“Son, luck is one of those things in life that you can’t account for. It’s not going to show up in an equation or on a chart. As you get older, you’re going to see some people will get lucky and some people won’t. That’s what the lottery runs on.”

“Yes, you’ll see. A lot of things in life aren’t fair. Luck isn’t fair either, but it really helps.”

Helen could play like she had nothing to lose because she didn’t. She would not be changed by a win or a loss; she would still be the same person with the same position with or without a crown.

“With your excellence, you make white people feel uncomfortable because you threaten their illusion that life is a meritocracy,” Professor Hill continued. “They believe that they’ve worked hard to get here and that because you’re Black, you’ve cheated. So I’m going to say this again: You actually are excellent. You are better than them, but here, you still have to play their game, with their rules, on their field.

“Bougie is a derivative of the word bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie represent the middle class, a middle class trying to emulate what they think it means to be a part of the aristocracy. But these people don’t know. They don’t have seats at the table. The bourgeoisie live outside of the confines of court. They’re relying on gossip and observation to ascertain what they imagine an aristocratic life looks like. They get a distilled version of what it means to be an elevated member of society, and then they dress themselves up and parade as such so that they’re able to feel important.”

Bougie is being used as a weapon. It signifies that you don’t belong just as much as that Barneys woman who said you don’t belong. Saying that you became bougie means that she thinks this is a learned behavior and that you don’t deserve class mobility because it isn’t consistent with her opinion of you.