Imagine being a young black student who is about to graduate from a four year-university. You seem to be in the minority, not just racially, but in success as well. It seems that, for some reason, all of your white friends already have jobs lined up for after graduation, whereas all of your employment applications have been turned down. However, it's not that uncommon for a college senior to be unemployed, so you don't fret much. Fast-forward six months: you're still unemployed, despite the fact that everyone else you knew from school eventually found a job. You have the exact same credentials as them; a good GPA, a degree in the same field, and an internship under your belt. What is it that is preventing you from being employed like your classmates? If you've been keeping up with my blog over the past few months, the answer will not surprise you.
I've presented you with a ton of research that has been done to shed light on the racial bias that still permeates most facets of society. Often times, people don't even realize that they are being racist. Could this "phantom" racism affect the employment of minorities as well? There is significant evidence to say that, yes, there is an inherent racial bias in the job market, even in modern times. While it is common knowledge that it was harder to find a job as a black person for much of our nation's history, many would be surprised to hear that there is still a gap in employment, and socioeconomic standing in general, between minorities, especially black, and white people. According to the source, the unemployment rate for African-Americans is an entire 50% higher than it is for white people. According to many blacks, there is blatant discrimination by employers based on race. For instance, one University of Chicago graduate who was quoted in the previous link said
"one hiring
manager became excited while talking to him over the phone about how lucky the
company was to hear from someone with a top business school education, but once the company representatives met him and saw
that he was Black, 'Their eyes kind of hit the ceiling a bit. It was kind of
quiet for 45 seconds.'".
Some of you reading this may attribute this discrimination to the education gap
between minorities and whites. While this definitely does contribute some, it
doesn't explain every statistic. For instance, the unemployment rate for white
college graduates in 2013 was around
half that of black graduates. Since both of these groups have the same
amount of education, why are they seeing different results in terms of
employment? There are many possible causes, but race seems like the most likely
culprit. Many different researchers have resorted to conducting experiments
like
this one, where they send identical resumes to firms with only two
variables changed: race and name. In the linked example, an African-American
woman owned and operated two Monster accounts (a job-searching service on the
Internet), one being listed as white, and the other, black. Everything else was
kept the same. Ultimately, the woman's white alter-ego received nine phone calls
and seven emails, whereas her real account only received two emails, both of
which also went to her fake profile.
With numbers and research like these, it is very hard to comprehend how
somebody could try to deny that racism is still prevalent in American society.
Of course, what occurs today is nowhere near as bad as what was happening in
the 1960s and earlier, but many would be surprised to learn how little progress
American society has actually made in being inclusive of all races. Trends like
these, as well as the gap in education, are reasons why African-Americans, and
minorities in general, remain more prominent than they should be in poor
neighborhoods and in prisons. Sadly, this is an issue that we probably won't do
away with for many decades, as it would require sweeping social and economic
changes. However, in order to have any ounce of credibility when we call
ourselves a "land of opportunity", Americans must do their part in
destroying racism from the bottom up.
Have you heard about how companies are coding resumes/applications to remove names? It's a policy being enacted to remove the initial bias that might come when immediately viewing a name that connotes a clear (non-white) ethnicity. I think this is a step in the right direction, as it levels the initial playing field, but I'm not sure it's enough given how deep the problem runs.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything you wrote. Subconscious racism stems from socially constructed ideas about race and self identification. I think that people are too heavily influenced by stereotypes, especially negative stereotypes about other races. These blind people from opening up and seeing the good in other people. They immediately refer back to cultural norms about other groups of people and in turn, this does not allow any progress to be made in change.
ReplyDeleteThe prejudice, while it is not as spoken, outlandish, and violent, is here and alive. A bottom-up approach is what will be the catalyst for race equality. Hopefully, we'll see that before we leave this Earth. I'm confident we will.
ReplyDeleteI think it is also important to note that in some cases reverse racism occurs. Occasionally, some companies have to fill a certain quota due to a law and will hire minority over a more qualified person of the majority. I find the idea of "phantom" racism very interesting as well. I do not know if there is any way to eliminate this phenomenon. Perhaps it will take a new generation within the future to create a truly post-racial society.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it is no surprise to me that racism still exists today but the fact that we are sometimes not even be aware of the fact that we're being judgmental because of skin color indicates how deep this problem runs in our society. Our country has made significant progress in racial equality but that doesn't mean we're done yet. Given the recent news regarding police brutality, we see racism in our justice system but also hope because of the hundreds or thousands of people willing to stand up for those who face inequality.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting explanation of the underlying causes of such discrepancies in racial equality in the job market of college graduates. While we as a society have been progressive in accepting diversity, I do think that your concept of "phantom" racism is present in the back of people's minds, which is extremely unfortunate. Hopefully, with continued progression and social change, we can eliminate the belief diversity is a negative thing in the workplace.
ReplyDeleteMy blog this semester has focused on race in education, and I have thoroughly discussed the education gap. However, I have not looked much into employment rates for different races with the same credentials. I would like to say I am surprised by these statistics, but sadly racism has been a part of our society for so long, it tends to appear in every aspect of life.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad that racism is still a thing and it keeps getting worse and worse with the Ferguson protests and such. Is progress really happening? Hopefully it is and I believe that our generation, who are overseeing all of these events, are becoming less and less ignorant of the problem and opening their hearts in order to solve it. Ideas can be deeply ingrained and American history can dictate this, but it takes one person to make a difference. Great blog!
ReplyDelete