"You can't rise as a class. You have to rise individually. It's what many of the civil rights-era people don't understand"

Alphonso Jackson’s assertion suggests a strong belief in the primacy of individual agency over collective action when it comes to social mobility and success. He challenges a perspective often held during the civil rights era, where the struggle was largely fought on communal grounds, emphasizing that structural change was needed for entire groups facing systemic discrimination. Jackson’s perspective draws a line between social movements focused on class or group advancement and a more individual-oriented outlook.

According to his view, the path to achieving a better socioeconomic status cannot rely on lifting an entire class of people simultaneously; instead, real progress happens through personal effort, determination, and the pursuit of individual opportunity. This perspective places responsibility on each person to carve their own way, to overcome obstacles on a personal level, and to seek out unique chances rather than depend on collective advancement or institutional change alone.

Jackson’s words also imply a critique of past movements that, in his view, may have overemphasized collective empowerment at the expense of nurturing self-reliance and personal initiative. He suggests that an overreliance on class identity or group struggle might neglect the power that lies within individuals to transcend their origins through education, hard work, resilience, and ambition. Implicitly, this argument points toward a philosophy often associated with meritocracy, where individual accomplishment, rather than group identity or solidarity, becomes the primary vehicle for success.

This perspective can be controversial, as it risks underplaying the significance of structural barriers, such as systemic racism or economic inequity, that impact entire classes or groups. Nevertheless, Jackson’s stance highlights a crucial debate about the balance between collective action and individual responsibility within movements for social change, and whether the focus should fall on transforming institutions or empowering individuals to overcome their circumstances independently.