You should know that sometimes in the media that’s the way it goes. Don’t beat yourself up about it.
I will say about your fatalist fears about scholastically inclined Black people that you should always have hope. Some folks may not have had intense training under an instructor but are still EDUCATED by LIFE. This is my experience having left Michigan for almost two years now. There definitely are scholars and educated folks. Some of them know what they know about police corruption, parenting and the education system not because they read it in a book but they experienced it. I work everyday to validate my students’ feelings by showing them the truth (facts and book knowledge) in what they feel. Sometimes what they feel is not justified and sometimes I have to burst their bubbles but more times my students have a general grasp on the stuff we have dug a little deeper to know about in college. My students are 18-21 years former out of school youth and predominately young black folk.
I don’t talk to my students about things they “should” know. I talk to them about things they feel are important and I try to heighten there consciousness around that. You wouldn’t believe how far that goes. One my students told our career counselor she wanted to go to the same college as me because Ms. M knows about everything. To me the thirst is out there for the masses who are not “scholastically inclined” but are we willing to help them in their pursuit?