apply for a job. What happens? This has been haunting me for days. It was on the local news in Minneapolis. I can't say many television news reports stick with me for days but this one has.
"Being a black man in America today is essentially like having a felony conviction," said Professor Devah Pager, who specializes in sociology at Princeton University.
Pager's research on the entry-level job market shows that when it comes to getting a job, a black man has the same limited chances as a white ex-con.
http://wcco.com/...
(I did the tags search but could not find any diary on this. But you can let me know . . .)
It was quite powerful on television. They showed 3 actors going in with hidden cameras applying for entry-level jobs. All had similar applications. The white man was called after the interviews. Guess who actually gave the black man some consideration for the job? The two people hiring who happened to be minorities.
I want to scream with frustration. Andrea sits by me at work. Her 27 year-old black boyfriend cannot find a second job. He already works night audit at our hotel. She has been so frustrated with him. She has felt that he is just being lazy. Of course, a job at a gas station or retail store is always available, right?
Guess not. Just for white people. I shared what I had seen on t.v. with her. She is outraged. We are both white, suburban, sheltered women who tend to get the jobs we apply for.
Of course, discrimintation may not be the only reason Al cannot find a job but it certainly puts his job hunt in some perspective.
The black actor made an interesting statement.
"There's a role that can be dropped as being an ex-con," William said. "Once you drop it off your resume. I wear this resume. This is who I am."
He's right. One cannot exactly hide the color of their skin. But the ex-con can "forget" to put the felony on the resume.
At least, the WCCO I-team results were not quite as negative as the Princeton study.
is one has.
The I-TEAM's results were better than in the Princeton study, but still, a quarter of the time, the black applicant and the ex-con were treated the same, not as favorably as the white applicant.
It still doesn't make me proud to live in Minnesota. I love MN, don't get me wrong. But this is appalling treament. An ex-con and a black man are not the same and should not be judged the same.
Thanks. I just needed to vent. Maybe it will haunt me a little less now.