This is the dilemma: we tell our children to behave, do well in school, and conform if they want to move up in society but this strategy does not work on a macro level. I am not willing to completely cast away with the respectability argument but I think we should be respectable in our private lives but never tire of pointing the finger at the structural racism.
Bill Cosby (when he was respectable) applied the respectability concept to Blacks and concluded (or made it very easy) to conclude that Blacks were their own worst enemies, and not structural racism. Ben Carson said that he thought that the impact of his race on his career was neutral. I recently read an article arguing about the need of young Black girls to emulate Serena Williams. What about the average Black lacking the talent of Carson and Williams?
Respectability does not work, cannot work, will not work as a policy for uplifting Black people. I was in Brazil for the World cup last year and the Blacks in Brazil are some of the most docile and “respectable” I have seen in a generation. Their reward? They are being screwed royally and are kept at the very bottom of society. It just makes no sense that folks that prey on you and have been doing so for centuries will now invite you to the table because you are now wearing a suit or pantsuit.
—Reginald Mombrun, North Carolina Central University School of Law