Yeah, that old chestnut respectability politics.

When a Black person makes it that way, it's a bit like winning the lottery: a rare, flashy, and all too often ephemeral event. Only thing is, winning the lottery is a lot easier; all you have to do is buy a ticket. But, as any successful Black person can tell you, they have to work ten times as hard to get one-tenth as far, and even then "they never let you forget you're Black" as I've heard it said.

Oprah Winfrey was assumed to be too poor to afford the goods when she was denied entry to a Hermes boutique. College professors Steve Locke and Henry Louis Gates were harassed by police for being Black. Barack Obama made it all the way to the White House on respectability, yet he and his family were still targeted by racist memes, obstructions, and outright threats. An entire movement -- the Tea Party -- was founded just to oppose him. And for God's sake let's remember Black Wall Street and the Tulsa Massacre!

These famous events that made the news are the tip of the iceberg of what Black people go through every day.

Sure, it's better to be respectable than not, but here's the thing. White people get a pass when we're sloppy, Black people don't. White people get forgiven and seen as individuals when we screw up; Black people don't. And that's why respectability politics is a flawed solution that does not work on a mass scale.

Finally, we don't get to tell Black people what to do. That's got to stop! If Black people want to advocate among themselves for respectability politics (and some do), that's one thing. But we don't get to tell Black people what to do. That's White supremacy.