One of racism’s harms is the way it falls on the unexceptional Black person who is asked to be extraordinary just to survive—and, even worse, when a Black person screws up, she faces the abyss after one error, while a White person who screws up in the same way is handed second chances and empathy. This shouldn’t be surprising: One of the fundamental values of racism to White people is that it makes success attainable for even unexceptional Whites, while success, even moderate success, is usually reserved for extraordinary Black individuals or unexceptional Black individuals willing to rise on
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