Racism at the workplace

Disadvantages black Americans face in the workplace

Before I started to write this blog and dig deeper into the topic of racism at the workplace, I did not suspect that dark-skinned people still face so many challenges and unfairness.

Of course, the sad news about police violence especially in the Southern States of America reach the German news and impressive films, such as “The Jury” or “Mississippi burning” became popular in Europe as well. The book "A time to kill" (John Grisham, 1996) increased my interest in this topic and finally led to this poste.
However, I was not aware, that these 20-year old films remain as topical as ever!

Doubtlessly, the USA has made some progress when it comes to equality between black and white. It is only 60 years ago, that black Americans got the right to vote!

With Condoleezza Rice, the first black lady has become a foreign minister in 2005; only three years later, Barak Obama was elected to be the first Afro-American president of the USA. 

It is not my goal to understate the achievements that have been made so far, but I also want to show, that black Americans still cope with many prejudice, for instance when they apply for a job.

In 2015, the Harvard professor Devah Pagermade made an interesting experiment:

She sent selected test applicants with equivalent CVs to apply for low-level jobs.

Pager found out, that black men with no criminal record applying for a job were as likely to be invited for a second interview, as white men who just came out of prison!

If black Americans get a job, their median weekly earnings are significantly lower than those of white employees. 

 

America seems to be a land of strictly limited possibilities for their black citizens. Pleasing changes have not been made in the last couple of years, not even during the promising mandate of Barak Obama.

This time, my closing words are not as enthusiastic as they usually are.

It makes me feel pessimistic to know, that mothers giving birth to black babies know, that their children will suffer disadvantages in their future life, without being given the chance to prove their skills.

The mind of children might be a “tabula rasa” (John Locke), a blank slate that can be scribbled on with the most beautiful colors. The future however rather seems to resemble a labyrinth with a predefined way.