That You Won’t Be Hired Even When You’re Qualified
The 2013 unemployment rate for recent college grads who are Black was almost twice that of recent college grads overall, according to a report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. In fact, the Black jobless rate has been consistently almost double the white jobless rate for the past 60 years. A large part of the problem is job market discrimination. One study found that job applicants with “Black-sounding” names (researchers gave Lakisha Washington and Jamal Jones as examples) were less likely to get called back for an interview than their counterparts with the same qualifications who had “white-sounding” names (like Emily Walsh or Greg Baker). Some researchers have even suggested that drug testing would improve the prospects of Black job-seekers because hiring managers are more likely to assume they’ve used drugs and are less likely to discriminate when presented with actual evidence to the contrary.
That You Won’t Be Able to Move Into the Best Neighborhood You Can Afford
One of the most heinous examples of racist housing policies was introduced by the creation of the Federal Housing Administration in 1934, and lasted until 1968. The FHA explicitly refused to back loans to Black people or even other people who lived near Black people. As writer Ta-Nehisi Coates puts it, “Redlining destroyed the possibility of investment wherever Black people lived.” As Coates writes, Black people with upper-middle-class incomes do not generally live in upper-middle-class neighborhoods. Research shows that Black families making $100,000 typically live in the kinds of neighborhoods inhabited by white families making $30,000.
