Workplace Discrimination Against African Americans in The Us

America, home of the free, a place in which all should be equal and treated as so. However, theoretically speaking this isn’t the case, as the discussion of race is a sensitive subject that arises many social problems within our society. One particular social issue that is still a significant and relevant problem to this day in American society is the issue of racial discrimination in the work field. Racial discrimination is the act of discriminating against individuals based on the color of their skin or their racial/ethnic background. This is a prevalent issue in American Society especially towards African Americans who are much more vulnerable to this problem in the workplace and labor market. I decided on writing about this issue because I believe it to be a flagrant violation against the American society as African Americans are being subjugated to an unfair and unequal ruling just based on their skin color. I have also been able to hear the stories from fellow brothers and sisters of their experiences of enduring racial discrimination in their place of work and was greatly disappointed yet not shocked to hear how common of an issue it is. There are many stories such as these and many contributing factors that lead to this issue that must be addressed.

One of the most common contributing factors in workplace discrimination against African Americans is the struggle of having less access to jobs than whites. Even from the start of sending in a resume can result in an individual being discriminated against as resumes with black-sounding names are less likely to have a call back compared to resumes with a white-sounding name. This further proves how even before receiving a chance to interview an individual can be discriminated against just by their name. In addition to that, data showed a persistent racial gap between black workers having fewer employment opportunities than white workers. The data displayed that “even after a decade of labor market gains, black workers face more impediments to finding work than is the case for white workers.”(Weller, 2019) Having less access to jobs leads to fewer job opportunities which makes it much more difficult for African Americans to even have a fair start in working. This is socially significant because without having a proper start to be employed makes it harder to save for one's future. By taking away this opportunity sets African Americans back and are forced to work twice as hard as whites.

Another contributing factor that results in workplace discrimination is the racial and gender bias towards Black women in the work field. Being a woman in American society we are met with the stereotypical gender bias in the workplace. However, being both a woman and black in American society comes with both racial and gender bias as black women experience some of the most overwhelming discrimination in the workplace. From the beginning, black women are already met with the stereotypical persona of being an “angry black woman” whenever they voice their opinions. Leading into that Black women struggle to conform to the dominant white behavioral norms in the workplace as they are put “under pressure to change how they dress, wear their hair, and speak, and also become more sociable and less “ethnic.”(Kramer, 2020) This ultimately strips away a black woman's identity and cultural authenticity for the exchange of “fitting in” their workplace. Additionally, even when black women try to conform to these expectations they are still treated unfairly as they are undermined and unacknowledged for their work contributions. To further explain “compared with other women in the United States, black women have always had the highest levels of labor market participation regardless of age, marital status, or presence of children at home.” Yet, black women are often still excluded from opportunities to help exceed their advancement and are often overlooked by counterparts who have less experience and work ethic. This issue is socially significant because there is no doubt that compared to men, women are much more susceptible to workplace discrimination. However, women with non-dominant social identities such as ethnicity, race, and motherhood have a much more added discrimination in the workplace.

Lastly, an additional contributing factor to workplace discrimination is the struggle of how black workers have higher unemployment rates than whites. While the U.S economy and labor market have seen exceptional job growth, African Americans still face systematic obstacles in the workplace in just finding a job, disregarding a good one. This alarming rate of unemployment for African Americans has been described as “last hired, first fired.” The labor market has had a record for always being historically worse for African Americans than for whites. This has many probable causes such as blacks are less likely to be able to participate and graduate from college resulting from the unfortunate fact that African Americans go through financial issues in attending college. Yet even Black college graduates still face higher job instability as “data further shows that African Americans typically face higher unemployment than whites, regardless of age, gender, education, and veteran status.”(Weller, 2020) No matter the qualifications, African Americans and their contribution to the workplace are continuously devalued as they are more prone to unemployment. This is socially significant because the rising rates of unemployment for African Americans results in less job instability, fewer benefits, and fewer opportunities. These systematic racial differences only progress the ongoing large racial wealth gap in American society and creates inequality in the distribution of jobs.

Due to these ongoing issues in the workplace that impact African Americans in society, we can see this through the concept of social class. This study of social class is the social and economic division in a society based on an individual’s status. It is also the product of social stratification in society in which is society’s categorization of people in socioeconomic strata. The idea of this is to classify a person’s status based on their occupation, income, wealth, and social status. This issue of racial discrimination falls under the category as being socially significant through social class because of the inequality of opportunities in America for African Americans. The social class already setbacks those who do not come from or have a stable financial outcome to help them advance in school or work. Minorities who are usually within the bottom of the social class are put at a disadvantage from the start and must either work twice as hard to get the same opportunities as those who reign at the top of the social class. These jobs can deny and discriminate just based on an individual's social status which deprives away their equal rights to opportunities.

Additionally, the concept of race is another theory that can be utilized to show how and why African Americans are impacted by racial discrimination in the workplace. Now this concept of race is not just based on the color of one's skin but as well as the socially constructed categories that give people privilege and advantages over others. In this case of the matter, whites have been bestowed advantages in the workplace compared to blacks. Being white in the workplace means they are paid more and are much more susceptible to being hired over an African American. This concept also goes deeper into the racism and discrimination that African Americans face in the workplace as it is not only just based on what others think about them but is the systemic belief that was built into society. This makes the workplace discrimination against African Americans a socially significant issue because it hinders them from succeeding and has been built into the operation of American society. This concept of race creates an unequal system that makes a society that provides fewer opportunities over others. It becomes a form of institutional racism based on prejudice and stereotypes and only restrains African Americans from advancing in the work field and life.

Overall this issue of workplace discrimination against African Americans continues to be a significant issue of systematic inequality that affects black people and black culture. It is a socially significant problem that has setback African Americans through the unequal and fewer opportunities given to them. In addition to racial discrimination, Black women are put through harsher issues along with gender bias. Along with that black workers face higher unemployment rates that lead to a growing racial wealth gap. These issues are long overdue in American society and must be accounted for as Black workers should be receptive to the same jobs and opportunities as white people. Including all workers, pertaining to the most vulnerable should be liable to minimum wages that are livable wages. To get to this not only does the workplace in American society require new policies but also new innovative changes to reduce the racial wealth gap. It is time for this social problem to be seen and heard and for the labor market to be accounted for.