Just because I know there are folk out there who need to hear it: not only are Black professionals not more likely to make life-threatening errors than white professionals, the racist headwinds those Black professionals faced to become recognized and credentialed made it so that only the very best got through.
The hardest-working, smartest people got through. Sound like anything we're nominally pursuing?
This is why they say that a Black person has to work twice as hard, be twice as good, as a white person to get similar success. Not only should you not cringe when you see a Black pilot flying your plane, you should salute her for the hard-ass work she did to get into that pilot's seat. She is, by facing the fires of racist hell, circle by circle, going to be among the most qualified pilots you could find.
It is blatantly and self-evidently counter-productive to try to segregate certain jobs, any jobs. By definition, the most qualified person should win, no? That's what our supposed meritocracy means?
Then it's about time we faced reality, and recognized that the systems we've built in majority-white Western nations produce top-quality graduates...from the repressed groups. It's human nature. If the representation is less than in public life, then there are fewer spots being chased by the same number of people. That's going to inflate the grade level needed to get in above that of the best students in majority populations. It's just reality. Math.
This is how deep white supremacy colonizes our minds. We buy into these false, self-serving white supremacist beliefs, like "affirmative action means the unqualified will get through".
We as white people in those countries need to do more to unravel these beliefs when we encounter them. You may not convince the bigot in front of you. But you might just sway the ignorant person listening to both of you.
Be safe, but be bold: challenge racism where you see it. And learn to see it better. I will be.
