In the US, race is very much tied to socioeconomic status and class.

It's not a 100% indicator, but its essentially what the quoteunquote CRT in schools was meant to show.

Many black communities are not poor simply because they're poor, but of on-the-books policies of redlining, discrimination, and overpolicing that enabled a wealth gap to form in the post-war period. Many white families were able to buy houses, build generational wealth, etc while many black communities were prevented from buying homes, getting loans, all the way to their neighborhoods being wholesale demolished for highways, malls, power plants, etc.

Being colorblind has the byproduct of ignoring real material policies and historic events that contribute to modern conditions. It is a fact that generational wealth enables rich students to afford SAT prep classes, have parents that can take them to extra curricular activities, and have the ability to not need a job during their teenage years.

Race-based affirmative action is meant to equal out these factors to an extent. Whether it works as intended is another matter.

Cases of "Working hard" and "picking yourself up by the bootstraps" is statistically negligible in the grand scheme.