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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBlack men w/ no criminal record applying for jobs treated same as white men fresh out of prison
http://m.dailykos.com/story/2015/4/27/1380610/-Black-men-w-no-criminal-record-applying-for-jobs-treated-same-as-white-men-fresh-out-of-prisonEven if a black man is never called a n****r in the job application process, racism is alive and well in today's competitive marketplace. In a powerful editorial for the NY Times, it's made clear that the deck is stacked firmly against African Americans in ways that are incredibly destructive.
The sociologist Devah Pager, a Harvard professor who has meticulously researched the effect of race on hiring policies, has also shown that stereotypes have a powerful effect on job possibilities. In one widely cited study, she sent carefully selected test applicants with equivalent résumés to apply for low-level jobs with hundreds of employers. Ms. Pager found that criminal convictions for black men seeking employment were virtually impossible to overcome in many contexts, partly because convictions reinforced powerful, longstanding stereotypes.
The stigma of a criminal record was less damaging for white testers. In fact, those who said that they were just out of prison were as likely to be called back for a second interview as black men who had no criminal history at all. Being black in America today is just about the same as having a felony conviction in terms of ones chances of finding a job, she wrote in her book, Marked: Race, Crime and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration....
A black man with no criminal history or record whatsoever is as likely to get called back for a second interview as a white man fresh out of prison! Damn, that's ugly. So ugly.
The sociologist Devah Pager, a Harvard professor who has meticulously researched the effect of race on hiring policies, has also shown that stereotypes have a powerful effect on job possibilities. In one widely cited study, she sent carefully selected test applicants with equivalent résumés to apply for low-level jobs with hundreds of employers. Ms. Pager found that criminal convictions for black men seeking employment were virtually impossible to overcome in many contexts, partly because convictions reinforced powerful, longstanding stereotypes.
The stigma of a criminal record was less damaging for white testers. In fact, those who said that they were just out of prison were as likely to be called back for a second interview as black men who had no criminal history at all. Being black in America today is just about the same as having a felony conviction in terms of ones chances of finding a job, she wrote in her book, Marked: Race, Crime and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration....
A black man with no criminal history or record whatsoever is as likely to get called back for a second interview as a white man fresh out of prison! Damn, that's ugly. So ugly.
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Black men w/ no criminal record applying for jobs treated same as white men fresh out of prison (Original Post)
KamaAina
Nov 2015
OP
LiberalArkie
(15,722 posts)1. That is a fact that I totally believe.
And I would bet that it is worse in the north than the south. I could be very wrong but I base it on the school busing. In the south it was just accepted( not happily) but it was once we got over integration. Now I remember up north, Boston in particular, on the news programs with the whites setting fire to the buses and blowing them up and stuff. That never happened in south Arkansas or anywhere in Arkansas that I remember.
Please correct me if I am wrong. Disclaimer: Memories of a old man are frequently wrong
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)2. kick
Chitown Kev
(2,197 posts)3. Yep.