College Degree and professional experience in Job Hunt doesn't close racial gap

Monday, the New York Times posted a piece that uncovered the difficulty African Americans have in finding work; additionally strong credentials of academic and professional backgrounds have failed to close gaps between Blacks and Caucasians.

Interestingly, the story did not necessarily have to move past racial stereotypes because it was about them, and the ways in which some black professionals have altered their resumes to purge any hint of race that might be in them.

The piece began with a short profile: "Johnny R. Williams, 30, would appear to be an unlikely person to have to fret about the impact of race on his job search, with companies like JPMorgan Chase and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago on his résumé."

“If they’re going to X me,” Mr. Williams said, “I’d like to at least get in the door first.”

Williams has deleted his membership of the African-American student business association among other things.

The Times justified the claims of William and the stories of others that noted failed business relationships after executives met black individuals about jobs by noting the differences in unemployment rates of the races. "The unemployment rate for black male college graduates 25 and older in 2009 has been nearly twice that of white male college graduates — 8.4 percent compared with 4.4 percent."

The statistic provides concrete evidence with the contextual claims made by the individuals within the articles, therefore strengthening the argument and couching personal stories within concrete fact.

The TImes traveled across the country to gather interviews, and reported, "The discrimination is rarely overt, according to interviews with more than two dozen college-educated black job seekers around the country, many of them out of work for months. Instead, those interviewed told subtler stories, referring to surprised looks and offhand comments, interviews that fell apart almost as soon as they began, and the sudden loss of interest from companies after meetings."

Because the piece focuses on uncovering what still might be a prominent issue of race in our country, it doesn't have to dance around the issue of whether a person is white of black. Because it's focal to the issue, it's also focal within the article. It acknowledges the stereotypes within the people who were interviewed, but additionally fails to provide much insight from the other side of the argument--the white professionals to blame.

By no means am I condoning the factual evidence of these issues, but it does seem a bit of a one sided argument. Further, it juxtaposes the great lengths the country went in electing our current President, but calls out a failure of the rest of the nation to follow suit. At least it seems to question the situation in this way.

The individuals interviewed also have their own worries about race.

According to the Times, It is difficult to overstate the degree that they say race permeates nearly every aspect of their job searches, from how early they show up to interviews to the kinds of anecdotes they try to come up with.

“You want to be a nonthreatening, professional black guy,” said Winston Bell, 40, of Cleveland, who has been looking for a job in business development.

He drew an analogy to several prominent black sports broadcasters. “You don’t want to be Stephen A. Smith. You want to be Bryant Gumbel. You don’t even want to be Stuart Scott. You don’t want to be, ‘Booyah.’ ”

Nearly all said they agonized over job applications that asked them whether they would like to identify their race. Most said they usually did not.