Garvey's Ghost: Black Talk

It Can't Be Race

The title references the common sentiment of whites and so called "conservative" blacks when confronted about various issues affecting black people that are the caused directly by white people. Today the NY Times posted an article entitled Race a Factor in Job Offers for Ex-Convicts In which it is shown that white canidates with felony drug possesion charges are more likely to receive job offers than blacks presented with the same background:

Black men whose job applications stated that they had spent time in prison were only about one-third as likely as white men with similar applications to get a positive response.

For every 10 white men without convictions who got a job offer or callback, more than 7 white men with prison records also did, the study found. But the difference grew far larger for black applicants: For every 10 black men without criminal convictions, only about 3 with records got offers or callbacks.

"It takes a black ex-offender three times as long to receive a callback or a job offer," said Devah Pager, an assistant professor of sociology and one of the study's two authors.

Even if you go the personal responsibility route and say that haveing been involved with drugs "you get what you deserve" the fact that even black men who have not been convicted of any crimwe still only get job offers 30% of the time.

It is clearly known that upwards of 50% of black men in NYC are unemployed, clearly white employers are discriminating against black males when hiring decisions are being made.

On the other hand I want to haark back to the words of warning given to us by Marcus Garvey. He told us clearly that the white majority, when faced with tough economic times, would choose to employ their own rather than blacks. Garvey was clearly right in this regard. This underscores the need for black business and links with the Caribbean and Africa so that we do not have to depend on asking white people for jobs.

Links:
http://nytimes.com/2005/06/17/nyregion/17felons.html