Hard work built this country, and it still does. The message from the ForbesBLK conversation — that grit is a muscle you build, not a gift you’re born with — should resonate with every American who believes in results over identity politics. That’s common-sense conservatism: teach people to fish, don’t hand out fish with strings attached.
It’s right to encourage Black entrepreneurs to seize the AI revolution, but let’s be clear about what that really means. We should be advocating for open markets, lower barriers to entry, and more access to capital, not curated lists and corporate PR campaigns that wrap ambition in labels. Opportunity is won in the marketplace, not in performative virtue signals from elite institutions.
When nonprofit leaders like the Eckerd Connects CEO talk about using technology to tackle mental health and literacy, I want to hear metrics and outcomes — not feel-good talking points. Conservatives believe in local solutions: community organizations, churches, and families should be empowered with tools and funding that actually produce measurable improvement. If AI helps tutors reach more kids and reduces bureaucratic waste, that’s a win; if it becomes another channel for top-down dictates, it won’t help anyone.
There’s also a real danger in treating AI as a magic wand that will fix social problems without confronting the underlying culture that produces them. Discipline, parental responsibility, and a strong work ethic are the backbone of upward mobility. Technology can amplify effort, but it cannot substitute for the moral and social foundations that create grit in the first place.
We should cheer when Black leaders push into tech, but we must oppose any policy that privileges groups over individuals. True conservatism supports merit, accountability, and colorblind opportunity — not quotas, corporate diversity theater, or government-directed “inclusion” schemes. The best interventions are those that expand freedom, not those that expand bureaucracy.
Big Tech and big philanthropy will try to control the narrative and harvest headlines for their own brand of progressivism. Conservatives should be vigilant: demand transparency, insist on real results, and push back against any centralized control that funnels taxpayer dollars to politically connected projects. Let entrepreneurs compete; let families choose solutions that work.
If grit is a muscle, then policy should be the gym, not the trainer who does the lifting for you. Cut red tape, lower taxes for small businesses, expand access to capital for startups in underserved communities, and promote school reforms that prioritize literacy and accountability. Those are the commonsense steps that turn talk about AI and innovation into actual opportunity.
This moment is a test. Will we let a generation be shaped by slogans and curated lists, or will we give them the tools to build real businesses and real lives? Conservatives should stand for the latter: empowerment through liberty, not dependency through design. The future belongs to those who show up, work hard, and refuse to be defined by other people’s narratives.
