Boldly going where no theory of white racism has gone before

From the start I said that the idea that Obama’s prospective presidency would usher in a “post-racial” America was sheerest nonsense, for the simple reason that none of the factors that made America “racial” (i.e., preoccupied with black low performance and the white racism that supposedly causes it) would go away if he became president. But here is something I had not anticipated: blacks and liberals are claiming, not just that blacks’ situation hasn’t gotten better under Obama, but that Obama’s ascendancy has made white racism and the resulting black suffering worse than before.

I kid you not. This is from a December 1 New York Times piece, “In Job Hunt, College Degree Can’t Close Racial Gap”:

In fact, whether Mr. Obama’s election has been good or bad for their job prospects is hotly debated. Several interviewed went so far as to say that they believed there was only so much progress that many in the country could take, and that there was now a backlash against blacks.

“There is resentment toward his presidency among some because of his race,” said Edward Verner, a Morehouse alumnus from New Jersey who was laid off as a regional sales manager and has been able to find only part-time work. “This has affected well-educated, African-American job seekers.”

It is of course absurd to believe that qualified blacks are being rejected for jobs because of their race, when, as everyone knows, employers are so eager to hire blacks (not to mention rationally fearful of the ever present threat of a visit from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) that they will snatch up any half-decent black they can find,

At the same time, I have to say that it seems possible to me that the subtle negative behavioral signals that the blacks interviewed in the article claim to be picking up from whites may not be entirely imaginary. After all, haven’t I said many times that the Obama presidency would be the equivalent of a four year long O.J. Simpson acquittal sack dance, waking up more whites than ever before to the endemic racial hostility, vengefulness, and violence of the black community, and thus leading whites to become more realistic and cautious in their views of blacks and their dealings with them?

I do not know that what I just said is true. It’s just a speculation. But as one who predicted and hoped that Obama’s presidency would bring about what liberals would consider a worsening of racial relations (see my response to Victor Hanson’s worry that the Rev. Wright affair would set back race relations by a generation), I cannot in honesty deny the possibility that as a result of the Obama presidency, with all its outrages against America, many of them of a clearly racially motivated nature, there has been a lessening of the usual white attitude of acquiescence and sycophancy toward blacks, which blacks and liberals interpret as an increase in white racism.

Here is the Times article:

December 1, 2009
In Job Hunt, College Degree Can’t Close Racial Gap
By MICHAEL LUO

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.

But after graduating from business school last year and not having much success garnering interviews, he decided to retool his résumé, scrubbing it of any details that might tip off his skin color. His membership, for instance, in the African-American business students association? Deleted.

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

Similarly, Barry Jabbar Sykes, 37, who has a degree in mathematics from Morehouse College, a historically black college in Atlanta, now uses Barry J. Sykes in his continuing search for an information technology position, even though he has gone by Jabbar his whole life.

“Barry sounds like I could be from Ireland,” he said.

That race remains a serious obstacle in the job market for African-Americans, even those with degrees from respected colleges, may seem to some people a jarring contrast to decades of progress by blacks, culminating in President Obama’s election.

But there is ample evidence that racial inequities remain when it comes to employment. Black joblessness has long far outstripped that of whites. And strikingly, the disparity for the first 10 months of this year, as the recession has dragged on, has been even more pronounced for those with college degrees, compared with those without. Education, it seems, does not level the playing field—in fact, it appears to have made it more uneven.

College-educated black men, especially, have struggled relative to their white counterparts in this downturn, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 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.

Various academic studies have confirmed that black job seekers have a harder time than whites. A study published several years ago in The American Economic Review titled “Are Emily and Greg More Employable than Lakisha and Jamal?” found that applicants with black-sounding names received 50 percent fewer callbacks than those with white-sounding names.

A more recent study, published this year in The Journal of Labor Economics found white, Asian and Hispanic managers tended to hire more whites and fewer blacks than black managers did.

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.

Whether or not each case actually involved bias, the possibility has furnished an additional agonizing layer of second-guessing for many as their job searches have dragged on.

“It does weigh on you in the search because you’re wondering, how much is race playing a factor in whether I’m even getting a first call, or whether I’m even getting an in-person interview once they hear my voice and they know I’m probably African-American?” said Terelle Hairston, 25, a graduate of Yale University who has been looking for work since the summer while also trying to get a marketing consulting start-up off the ground. “You even worry that the hiring manager may not be as interested in diversity as the H.R. manager or upper management.”

Mr. Williams recently applied to a Dallas money management firm that had posted a position with top business schools. The hiring manager had seemed ecstatic to hear from him, telling him they had trouble getting people from prestigious business schools to move to the area. Mr. Williams had left New York and moved back in with his parents in Dallas to save money.

But when Mr. Williams later met two men from the firm for lunch, he said they appeared stunned when he strolled up to introduce himself.

“Their eyes kind of hit the ceiling a bit,” he said. “It was kind of quiet for about 45 seconds.”

The company’s interest in him quickly cooled, setting off the inevitable questions in his mind.

Discrimination in many cases may not even be intentional, some job seekers pointed out, but simply a matter of people gravitating toward similar people, casting about for the right “cultural fit,” a buzzword often heard in corporate circles.

There is also the matter of how many jobs, especially higher-level ones, are never even posted and depend on word-of-mouth and informal networks, in many cases leaving blacks at a disadvantage. A recent study published in the academic journal Social Problems found that white males receive substantially more job leads for high-level supervisory positions than women and members of minorities.

Many interviewed, however, wrestled with “pulling the race card,” groping between their cynicism and desire to avoid the stigma that blacks are too quick to claim victimhood. After all, many had gone to good schools and had accomplished résumés. Some had grown up in well-to-do settings, with parents who had raised them never to doubt how high they could climb. Moreover, there is President Obama, perhaps the ultimate embodiment of that belief.

Certainly, they conceded, there are times when their race can be beneficial, particularly with companies that have diversity programs. But many said they sensed that such opportunities had been cut back over the years and even more during the downturn. Others speculated there was now more of a tendency to deem diversity unnecessary after Mr. Obama’s triumph.

In fact, whether Mr. Obama’s election has been good or bad for their job prospects is hotly debated. Several interviewed went so far as to say that they believed there was only so much progress that many in the country could take, and that there was now a backlash against blacks.

“There is resentment toward his presidency among some because of his race,” said Edward Verner, a Morehouse alumnus from New Jersey who was laid off as a regional sales manager and has been able to find only part-time work. “This has affected well-educated, African-American job seekers.”

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.

[end of Times article]

- end of initial entry -

Jim C. writes:

Another winner from Auster:

“I do not know that what I just said is true. It’s just a speculation. But as one who predicted and hoped that Obama’s presidency would bring about what liberals would consider a worsening of racial relations (see my response to Victor Hanson’s worry that the Rev. Wright affair would set back race relations by a generation), I cannot in honesty deny the possibility that as a result of the Obama presidency, with all its outrages against America, many of them of a clearly racially motivated nature, there has been a lessening of the usual white attitude of acquiescence and sycophancy toward blacks, which blacks and liberals interpret as an increase in white racism.”

Indeed. Bottom line: blacks are terrified that affirmative action is rapidly coming to a close. Can you imagine a young Henry Louis Gates competing against Charles Murray for a prestigious slot at Harvard? I’m loving this.

A reader writes:

You wrote:

“It is of course absurd to believe that qualified blacks are being rejected for jobs because of their race, when, as everyone knows, employers are so eager to hire blacks (not to mention rationally fearful of the ever present threat of a visit from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) that they will snatch up any half-decent black they can find.”

One of my job duties is to recruit and monitor PhD/MD level professionals for government contract work. These are physicians and psychologists I hire (and sometimes train) in order to conduct medical examinations and review medical reports submitted to the federal government. In certain areas I’m not in need of anyone. Lately, however, when I tell candidates that we are not in need of services, I’ve been told outright by several job seekers, “I’m black,” as if that is all I am required to know. And indeed they are correct. If a black person is qualified on paper (i.e., has the requisite degree) I automatically hire them, simply because our agency does not want an EEOC complaint.

I can also report that once Obama-care goes into effect you will not believe the number of Third World physicians who will be treating you. I’ve get routine complaints about physician hygiene, unsanitary physical plant conditions in their offices, and rude manners about these so-called professionals, many from Caribbean medical schools. But they are black, so it doesn’t really matter to management.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at December 03, 2009 11:43 AM | Send