Do You Have a Job?

Do you have a job? Did it take a while to get your first gig, or have you ever felt discriminated against when applying for a job? If you have a job, how would you describe the diversity of your co-workers? Did you get your job because of some type of family/friend connection? From the day I turned 16 until I was almost 20, I had no success finding a job. Sometimes we like to blame the economy for the lack of jobs, but can the fall of the economy take the whole blame? I remember during the beginning of summer 2011, I walked into a store located in the Water Tower Place and asked a worker were they currently hiring. She told me yes and that I should return with a resume. So the next morning when I returned with my resume, I was told they were currently not hiring or taking applications. I can’t say for sure if this was discrimination, but I did not see any black employees and it definitely made me feel some type of way. Typically we focus on white/black discrimination but discrimination comes in so many color and forms. Recently, in Queens New York, a French bakery was fined for denying a black woman work. Allegedly, the reason was because she was black she could potentially scare the customers away, but she was assured that if a spot opened up in the kitchen where she could not be seen, her application would be taken into consideration. Another thing that can play apart in racial discrimination in the workplace is our names. Maybe your name is the reason you never got a job. Do you have a “black sounding” name or a “white sounding” name? Being that my name is Benita I guess I would roll with a “black sounding” name, but only thanks to A Tribe Called Quest, and their song “Bonita Applebum.” Jumping back into reality studies show that names play a role and in obtaining jobs as well. According to a study conducted by Amy Braverman, a reporter for the University of Chicago magazine, she concluded that “white” applicants with “white sounding” names, such as Kristen and Brad were called back 50 percent more often than “black” applicants with “black sounding” names such as Aisha and Rasheed. What if you get the job and then the discrimination starts? In January of 2012, a suit was filed against a Coca-Cola site in New York for discrimination on behalf of black and Hispanic workers. The workers reported experiencing the most undesirable and physically dangerous positions and even completing takes that were outside of their job descriptions. Put yourself in their shoes what would you do? Or what if you were working for a company for numerous years but you were never offered an opportunity to advance? Most people work because they have to, so I could only imagine working under these types of conditions. If you are an employer and you don’t care for a particular race, then just don’t hire them! Either way you are doing the wrong thing, but I bet a person would rather be denied the job in the hiring process than to be hired and treated wrong.

 http://newsone.com/2731099/jamilah-dacosta-framboise-patisserie/

http://www.workforce.com/articles/coca-cola-unit-sued-for-alleged-racial-discrimination 

http://youtu.be/bT0gVTjZEFE