I've wondered something for awhile.
Why is it in the US during the time of segregation, that Blacks didn't just make better stuff for themselves? Very often when I see segregation portrayed it's like Black kids in black schools use the busted hand me down books from the white school, why not just get better quality books through other means? The black businesses are usually connected to the white business or next door and the black business is run down or something, why don't they just reinvest and fix up the shop so it's as nice as the white one?
Like I see Mexicans nowadays take leftover construction materials from jobs and build additions onto their houses with it and it's quality work. So why didn't they just invest in their own community and make things nicer? Like I understand they most likely got paid less than average but back then you'd find ways around that sort of hurdle to survive and flourish.
Did "separate but equal" not work because the whites kept them down, or it that they just simply didn't actually try to build a community and therefore foster the sense of neighborhood that whites had?