Didn't read past page 1....Arathian I agree that culture does play a large part in the disparity between ethnic groups in the USA. HOWEVER, education and what vagina you fell out of, play a huge part in it as well (how much money the vagina can summon being the main issue).
People born in poor conditions and receiving poor education growing up, are far more likely to continue the pattern of being poor than someone born to parents with some money and access to education, health care, and social functions that make a well balanced human being.
Yes, culture plays a pretty big role, but so do a lot of these socio-economic factors, to ignore that is very ignorant (not saying you are, but you should have mentioned it to give both sides of the coin a fair shake). The elementary school I went to, is now 75-80% non-white students, and I grew up directly with the anti-intellectual culture of black people. It certainly wasn't across the board, but it was a pervasive attitude, and anyone who was black and didn't go by that attitude was criticized and labeled "whitey" or otherwise ostracized.
Sure some poor people are able to get "bootstrappy" and change from a 3rd class citizen to someone in the middle class, but those cases are few and far between compared to the majority, and it's not just black people or Latinos either, it's white poor people as well. And it's more than just cultural aspects that propagate this continuation of the class your parents brought you into this world as.
An associate's degree is pretty much standard requirement nowadays for most jobs, where as 30 years ago it was a high school diploma. Just to get a job that I could train someone to do in 2 days, requires a 2 year college degree. That costs money, and it requires the person to have some level of education they consumed growing up that they can fall back on. So it is both cultural and economic factors at play here, but you can't just discount one side of the spectrum.
