I bet he would have spent a lot of money to get into that position too. Except he and his family were of very limited means.<p>Really, if you want to play the &quot;other people have it harder&quot; game, I will readily bow out; of course there are.<p>But within the confines of &quot;here&#x27;s someone who had a major influence in his profession&quot;, to dismiss his skin color as not being of note, to ignore the additional obstacles society would have placed in front of him, is to deny him some credit for having overcome those obstacles. That&#x27;s why it&#x27;s mentioned, that&#x27;s why it matters. I agree, ideally it wouldn&#x27;t matter; the fact is is that because to some people being black is a detriment means that being black includes extra obstacles, and it&#x27;s worth recognizing those who overcome them.