@Jamdown123
Yes, I might be wrong.
I don't see it though. Lots of Black people my age are really pushing through now making partner at law, firms, banks, consultancies (if that's where you want your children to go) and certainly universities (if oxbridge and Russell group are where you want your children to go) .
I did attend oxbridge myself, and then worked in financial markets, the young black people I knew who went to private school where they were in the small minority generally had a lot of identity and self-issues, and still do and they haven't gone any further or done any better than us, same house, same car, same holidays, I haven't seen their bank accounts so yeah, maybe it towers over mine :p I will say most if not all married and had children with white partners and race has been an issue in the dissolution of those relationships. I think there was a lot of learning about white being the better catch at a time when that was very impacting (school years) and they have now unlearned that. But of course when the hot girl and boy were white because the whole school was....
I do think private school can work very well for white people because they can pass for a true type of middle class very easily. Our blackness will always demarcate us and racism will potentially limit us the way class can be shaken off by white people.
Where privately educated black people have 'dominated' I'd like to consider the other factors at play, and those would be parents and money for the large part.
To my other point. I had a fantastic time from say age 15-30, certainly 15-23, and 15-19 was supreme. I really didnt see many black private school girls with their white private school friends where we were having our great time together, in garage raves, at carnival, at ayia napa. I have met them at uni and since and it's been sad to hear about their childhood experiences. So I do stand by what I've said. They are exceptions like virgo fidelis for example (but that had lots of black girls there and is not the type of private school we are talking about here). Linked to this, my frievds son was offered St Paul's and City last year but they took Dulwich particularly due to the ethnic question. Dulwich is by no means a top boys private school. If you were talking about Dulwich, I'd say, yeah, go for it.
Private school in general is not that ticket for black people, but by all means, do what's best for yours as you think about the life you can offer them in the round. If you send them to a private school where they are one of a handful black boys, if that, but you send them to the Gambia every school holiday abd/or you live in Streatham and send them to extra curricular activities there, it's a very different question.
But does private school give us that edge. I'm afraid for the most part I don't think so. Saying that, as gangs have been mentioned above (should it have been?) I'd definitely risk self-esteem issues over being knifed or shot. So really depends on your/dcs circumstances.
I find it odd you think race trumps class, yet you yourself attended a elite university ( I presume from a state school?) You got to the top without the help of a private school, that leg up.
The Sutton Trust says pupils from eight schools filled 1,310 Oxbridge places over three years, compared with 1,220 from 2,900 other schools. Of those 8 schools, 6 are private.
Where you say - I do think private school can work very well for white people because they can pass for a true type of middle class very easily. Our blackness will always demarcate us and racism will potentially limit us the way class can be shaken off by white people.
That says more about your own personal belief reference than it does about reality. The black Etonian whose parents are university educated will easily pass between the elites who run this country , with much more ease than a state educated white person whose parents are council estate, class dominates , because it is the bedrock of what this country is built on, just as America was built on race.
You said you were at Oxbridge, so you must have seen this first hand, class cuts across race every time. My brother was a Oxford and coming from a working class family was far more a burden than his skin. I appreciate within your own experience you've seen black privately educated people confused , value white over black, etc, but I've seen plenty of black people that hate themselves who attend black majority state schools.
You can't make sweeping statements like 'Private school in general is not that ticket for black people' because there is no sweeping generalization of black people. There are African students at boarding schools in England whose Grandfathers attended the same school, who have a very solid idea of their blackness and culture. Just the same, marrying white doesn't denote you have a low opinion of your culture, that's just bullshit.
The 'edge' of private schools is simply better exam results, and expanded learning, more cultural trips, debating, sport, than a state school can offer. Plenty of white pupils who leave the best private schools in England and amount to nothing , black pupils have this advantage but take two steps back from institutional racism both within the school and outside it, but note how many of the black privately educated within your social circle who are on benefits, dealing, working in dead end jobs? Not many I suspect.
While you can make a success of your life without private school, it's foolish to think a black person has no benefit from attending the top performing schools in the country ( that are all private schools).