Colorism: The Often Un-discussed “-ism” in America’s Workforce Affirmative Action policies are being revamped. The revamp is due to views on workforce diversity. Institutes are seeing the benefits having a miscellaneous environment can bring. An obstacle that comes with diversity is discrimination. Matthew Harrison looks at the issue that is over looked when discussing discrimination. Colorism.
Civil Rights Act, Title VII “prohibits employers from discriminating against employees”. Employers are not to discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Race is given more attention than others due to the history of America. Slavery has shaped poor race relations between the black and white communities of today. Most race relation issues are labeled “Black versus White”
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Harrison continues addressing discrimination within the application process. His findings in the Fair Employment Council show that “employers are likely to treat black applicants less favorably than white applicants”. Applicants can have similar qualities; education and interview well but their skin color is the determining factor.
The article wants to express that color is it’s on entity. Race is not always the issue. The complexion of an individual’s skin determines their acceptability. This “acceptability” causes inequality amongst the black community. Individuals with lighter skin tones are given opportunities that individuals of a darker tone are omitted from. Employers may not discriminate when it comes to race but the might when it comes to the appearance of an applicant.
Dr. Harrison goes into the history of colorism in the black community. During the slavery era, your skin color depicted your tasks. Darker skin slaves were given laboring task. Task that usually involved being out in the field. Lighter skin slaves were given more desirable task. This divide in labor based on skin color established the divide in the black community regarding
In his essay, “The Souls of the Black Folk” Du Bois (1903) states that “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line,-the relation of the darker to lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea” (275). According to Appelrouth and Edles (2012: 269) “the color line is both a preexisting social and cultural structure and an internalized attitude”. In addition, they explain that the color line “addresses the historical and institutional (i.e., colonial) dimensions of race” (269).
"Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is the single most important piece of legislation that has helped to shape and define employment law rights in this country (Bennett-Alexander & Hartman, 2001)". Title VII prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, age, gender, disability, religion and national origin. However, it was racial discrimination that was the moving force of the law that created a whirlwind of a variety of discriminations to be amended into Title VII. Title VII was a striving section of legislation, an effort which had never been tried which made the passage of the law an extremely uneasy task. This paper will discuss the evolution of Title VII as well as the impact Title VII has had in the workforce.
The struggle for equality has existed throughout history. The color of a person’s skin seems to depict everything about them. Not only was this an issue in earlier times, but the present as well. The battle to overcome inequity was made significantly more troublesome in the Plessy v. Ferguson case of 1896.
Back in the early 1800’s, the color of one’s skin mattered amongst African Americans and Caucasian people. There was infidelity between the Caucasian slave owners and the African American slaves. Of course, the outcome of that produced a fairer toned child. In most cases the child could pass as white. The mixed toned kids got to be inside doing housework, while the dark Negroes worked in the fields, under extraneous work conditions,”their dark-toned peers toiled in the fields”(Maxwell). From the early 1800’s to modern day, there is controversy that light or bi-racial African Americans are better than dark colored African Americans. African Americans had to go through tests to see if they were able to receive priviledges
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 was designed to protect workers from job discrimination. These employees are known as “protected class.” Under the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Opportunity Act of 1972 and 1991 provide for equal employment opportunity, in which everyone had the right to employment regardless of sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, or religion. The purpose of the Equal Opportunity Act was to make sure employees gained and kept employment based solely on their ability to perform their job (Schermerhorn, J. & Bachrach, D. 2015, p. 295).
Abstract- Racial discrimination happens all the time and most of us are unaware of it. The most common place for this to happen is in the workplace. Now people can be discriminated against because of their race, religion, or any other numerous things. Also, discrimination can occur during the job interview or even after you got the job. This paper will shoe the effects of racial discrimination and how it can be prevented. In addition there are some very important laws that deal specifically with discrimination, like the NAACP or Affirmative Action. These both will be discussed.
Many are unaware of the effects that race has played in their lives over the years. Some may not understand its implications, but are very oblivious to it. Race can influence such things like attitude and behavior. Nowadays being white or black means something more than just a Crayola color. No longer are they just colors, they are races with their own rules and regulations. People of color have been inferior to the white race for centuries. In their own way Zora Neale Hurston shows this concept in her story “How it feels to be Colored Me” as does Richard Wright in his autobiographical sketch “The Ethics of Living Jim Crow”.
The case of Griggs v. Duke Power (1971) brought to the forefront issues that Human Resource professionals may have to address within their organization. This case centered on disparate impact and disparate impact. Although these terms are used, interchangeable impact would prove to be significant in that case. This case centered around Duke Power openly discriminated against a protected class (blacks). In order to be hired into any department other than labor, the company required a high school diploma and/ or a passing score on two tests. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal law that prohibits employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sex, race, color, national origin, and religion. Despite this passage,
In order to fully understand why light skinned individuals have easier lives than dark skinned individuals, one must look understand how colors register in the human mind. When a person looks at a color it creates a certain feeling within them. In Ellis Cose’s Rage of a Privileged Class, color plays a very significant role. Cose explains that because of color a white man is likely to be helped more, quoted lower on purchases, shop without harassment, and offered more jobs as opposed to an African
Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, EEOC laws are enforced. EEOC laws give citizens the ability to find a job without being discriminated upon race, religion, origin, or sex. There are many laws that have stemmed from this Civil Rights Act. I think that these laws have established a well-rounded society.
Many critics of affirmative action believe it has failed to achieve its stated goal of equal employment opportunity. A few even believe that it has done more harm than good. A review of the statistics, however, shows
A major controversy encompassing the country is the issue of affirmative action. Many believe that the abolition, or at least restructure, of affirmative action in the United States will benefit the nation for many logical reasons. Originally, affirmative action began as an attempt to eliminate discrimination and provide a source of opportunity; affirmative action did not begin as an attempt to support just minorities and women. In addition, affirmative action naturally creates resentment when the less qualified are preferred instead of the people actually deserve the admission or job. Another reason that has existed since the abolition of slavery is the myth that women and ?minorities? cannot compete
Colorism is the prejudice or discrimination against individuals with a dark skin tone, typically among people of the same ethnic or racial group. Colorism has been one of the most prominent dividing factors amongst multitudes of ethnicities and cultures. Lighter skin has been associated with higher levels of intelligence, wealth, attractiveness, and more. As a result, those of darker complexions have undergone drastic and harmful measures in order to meet these restrictive beauty standards. Advertisements exhibit men and women with creamy white skin and silky straight hair. Companies have profited off of colorism by selling skin bleaching and hair straightening products. The damage colorism has created amongst communities physically and psychologically is deplorable.
Lowering standards for an individual hurts their academic and professional career by moving them ahead to a level they are not yet ready for. In today’s world, affirmative action is set to hurt minorities. Giving preference to a person based on their race gives no motivation to the individual if they feel they can float by in life. The result is a mismatch effect where and applicant is not ready for their position because previous affirmative action had carried them without the proper training. Fields should not be leveled to help people, leaving them in positions they are not qualified or prepared for, resulting in an applicant feeling lost and overwhelmed from ‘mismatching’, work suffers as does their feeling of
According to “Civil Rights Act of 1964", under Title 7, there is the nation’s prime civil rights legislation, which is Civil Right Act of 1964, and the act prohibits employers from any kinds of discrimination toward applicants on the basis of race, sex, religion, color, and national origin. The act basically protects all the citizens from workplace discrimination and prove that the citizens should have same equal rights regardless their race, sex, or religion. Especially, the act is important because it is a fundamental policy that keep citizens safe in the