I.
We’ve had seven generations pass since the Emancipation Proclamation, but only two since the end of Jim Crow and one since the last protest over the court-mandated desegregation of Boston’s public schools. It’s been a little more than a year since the Restaurant Opportunities Center of New York published its report on the discrimination and occupational segregation that pervade the industry. Given the importance of the restaurant industry to so many of our local economies, the study’s findings should give us pause.
Researchers sent equally-credentialed pairs of testers-one member of each pair white, the other a person of color-to apply for server positions in 138 fine-dining Manhattan restaurants. The study showed that:
Testers of color were only 54.5% as likely as white testers to get a job offer, and were less likely than white testers to receive a job interview in the first place. …
The work experience of white testers was twice as likely to be accepted without probing.
White testers with slight European accents were 23.1% more likely to be hired than white testers with no accent. However, testers of color with accents were treated no differently than testers of color without accents.
Researchers also used 2000 US Census data to compare the earnings of white workers and workers of color employed in front-of-the-house positions. Even after controlling for job experience, education, and command of English, the study found that workers of color “pay a ‘race tax’ in the form of 11.6 % lower earnings than they would have if they had the same qualifications but were white.”
And this is not an isolated result. Decades of matched pair and other studies have provided evidence of racial bias in the workplace and other domains.*
II.
The Opportunity Agenda recently released a publication titled Ten Lessons for Talking About Racial Equity in the Age of Obama. In it the author writes:
Experience from around the country shows that discussing racial inequity and promoting racial justice are particularly challenging today. Some Americans have long been skeptical about the continued existence of racial discrimination and unequal opportunity. But with the historic election of an African American president, that skepticism is more widespread and more vocal than ever.
Ironically, at a time when many expected the national conversation to shift, race has become the issue that dare not speak its name. I’ve noticed the change: a palpable reluctance of late to engage the topic in polite company, as if ignoring the elephant in the dining room will keep him from upsetting the table we’ve laid for ourselves and for our visions of a “post-racial” America; as if talking ever did that much anyway. In my adopted city of New Orleans, brilliant young leaders of color are engaging the issue in new ways, more by doing than by talking. We have a new mayor who understands how race has affected and continues to affect our region. New generations are being born who are playing together, gaming together, singing the latest Hip Hop anthem together.
Is this the way out? For one generation after another to rise up until it’s completely unremarkable that a black man should be president of the United States? Will these demographic shifts translate finally into equitable outcomes, or will we need to press the issue until the sun goes cold?
Part of our reluctance might come from exhaustion, from decades of living with the effects of segregation and racial antipathy. We feel powerless to eliminate a disease that has so far resisted cure. Overt racism, implicit racial bias, white privilege, structural racism: the pathogen long ago developed new strains and underwent a kind of social metastasis. We can change unfair policies, for example, but how do we shift attitudes and habits of mind? The problem with the stuff inside our heads, of course, is that its ill effects don’t stay confined to that space. The problem more generally is that both misery and good fortune are selective about whom they visit and in what neighborhoods they choose to reside.
One can never escape the awareness of race. Being a white person, when I see another white person walking down my street I never think to myself “hey, look at the white guy walking down the street.” We often make our first inventory of the other person by how they are different from ourselves.
The problem emerges however when we see those differences as grounds for fear as opposed to celebration. Very rarely will we go shopping for clothes made of only one color. We tend to shop for clothes that have some type of variety or distinction. I tend to feel the same way regarding my neighborhood or surroundings. Without the variety that many different skin tones or cultures bring, life becomes mundane quickly.
In my home state of Texas we are having a series of strong debates over the issue of immigration. There are many here that feel distress at the fact that the state will officially be a “minority majority” soon and they fear that they are having the culture of another forced upon them. I find it interesting one should fear having the culture of another forced upon them while hypocritically demanding that they accept yours in order to blend in. The hispanic culture has always been a major part of this state. Some of my first memories as a child was dining in the local Mexican food restaurant. It seems that for some, the culture of others is acceptable only as a novelty.
There will be a long road in America before race is not the elephant in the room. Even today we are finding examples where we are still teaching our children that people are identifiable by something as arbitrary skin color. There is currently a debate at a Mississippi middle school where skin color decided what student body office you are allowed to hold ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38880820/ns/us_news-life/ ).
It is a difficult circle to close. To feel comfortable with others, one must understand who they are. To understand who they are, one must allow some closeness. Unfortunately, the ones that would benefit from a little extra work at being understanding are the ones less open to closeness. How do you break through those barriers? Like any thing that is successful, it is a seed you must plan and nurture. It takes one on one attention and much time. It requires that you “be the change you wish to see in the world.”
When it is all said and done, the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time.
Michael
History has shown, racism will always be with us. Any fair research on this issue will reflect this scenerio. My question has always been, what is the criteria that prides oneself to be superior to others?
We are afraid to bring up race. If we complain about anything in that context our issues are minimized by the idea of using the “race” card. I think in some ways that is why Obama feels it necessary not to acknowledge the uprise of racism, bigotry and hatred brought on by his historic presidency.