A couple of weeks ago, WaPo ran a story about a middle aged black professional who was perfectly content with his life and success.
But then the government stepped in, and he now realizes that he's a victim.
And WaPo thinks this is a good thing.
In a way, this is a throwback to what "going woke" means. It meant waking up to the realities of systemic racism and how white supremacy colors and determines all of western reality. But now our own government is pushing people purposely in that direction.
That's the most pithy way to put it. The government is leveraging contracts, using your tax dollars, to convince a certain class of people that they are victims.
It's maniacal.
Curtis Joachim sat at his computer, searching for the words to prove his disadvantage ...
He had to write an essay.
So Joachim began examining his life through the prism of disadvantage. It was new terrain for the 56-year-old Marine Corps veteran and longtime entrepreneur, a man who had instinctively equated success with merit.
As he sat down to write, he thought about his many setbacks: the missed promotions, the bankruptcies, the second jobs he took to make ends meet. No matter how hard he had worked, he now realized, there had always been some resistance, almost like an 'invisible force' holding him back.
And then it struck him: 'It could have been different if I was not a Black man.'
This man is a 56-year-old (formerly patriotic) immigrant who joined the United States Marines.
Now he has the mind virus.
Or, perhaps a better way to put it is that Joachim, like many "woke" people, realize that wokeness is a path to benefits and cold hard cash.
Consider this recent court ruling that actually rooted out racist discrimination by making sure the system isn't preferential to blacks at the expense of everyone else.
It was summer 2023, and a federal judge had just ruled that a government program for minority contractors could no longer automatically accept participants like Joachim. For the first time in the program's 45-year history, simply being Black was not enough to qualify as "socially disadvantaged" — a key requirement to receive set-asides for lucrative government contracts. Now Joachim, an accountant, had to document his struggles.
For 45 years being black was an automatic advantage given by awarding a grant for minority contractors. It was automatically assumed that Joachim was disadvantaged due to race.
But it was only when he had to prove it that he suddenly "discovered" he had always been discriminated against.
You know, by being given special advantages like government contracts.
Joachim said the program changed the course of his life, allowing him to win more than $32 million in accounting and auditing contracts over the past decade from the departments of Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation, among others. The experience gave him the foundation to pursue other government work and increase his staff to 15.
This man was given a $32 million leg-up by taxpayers under a system that gave him a boost at the expense of other competitors simply because of the color of his skin.
Somehow, removing that advantage so that contractors can compete fairly is "white supremacy."
What a clown show.
Joachim wrote that he had been a 'Poster Marine' who spit shined his boots every night, kept his hair 'high and tight,' and earned his sergeant's stripes in just under three years — it typically takes four to five — while attending college at night and competing as a power weightlifter. He had been named Marine of the Month, then Service Member of the Year, the essay said.
None of it was enough to qualify him for the officers training program, which would have provided him with a college education and propelled him into the commissioned officer ranks. Instead, he wrote, a White Marine had been selected.
There's no evidence presented here. Just some man rewriting why he was passed over for a promotion many years ago and blaming it on racism as a convenient excuse.
And WaPo just eats it up. They love it. They love presenting the Narrative™ instead of pushing back on one-sided claims that [checks notes] tarnishes the reputation of superior officers in the U.S. Marines.
Joachim had not always seen things this way. It had not occurred to him to blame racism when he was rejected for the officers training program or missed out on promotions.
'I never saw myself as disadvantaged,' he said. 'To me, it was America. You roll your sleeves up and you work hard, and you get there.'
You know what the reality is? Life isn't fair.
And we know it.
You can work really, really hard at a sport and still not place in the top 3. You might be really smart, but there might be 10 smarter people lining up for the scholarship. You might be exceedingly qualified, but there might have been two other candidates that were better for the job.
That's life. Most of us learn that it's a balance between hard work, the right connections, and the grace of God.
Others blame everyone else for their obstacles and failures.
But writing the essay forced him to examine his life through a different lens. He found the idea that his skin color may have contributed to his many setbacks upsetting. It upended his belief that success was just a matter of hard work and perseverance.
It's tragic, really. A very successful black businessman has been brainwashed by the government to believe that his whole life has been an uphill battle against a mysterious invisible racism.
Five days after submitting his essay last August, the SBA accepted it, allowing Joachim to remain in the program for a 10th and final year.
Last month, he 'graduated' from 8(a). From now on, the government will no longer classify him as 'disadvantaged.'
Now, it's 'sink or swim,' he said. 'And, by golly, we're going to swim.'
Roll up your sleeves, my man.
Welcome to the equal playing field.
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