The Disproportionate Overrepresentation of Minority Youth in ...

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have equal job opportunities (67 percent strongly agree/agree).
A reading of the interviews supports these sentiments of job and economic
inequality. A black youth reports, “Racial discrimination in the work place is hush-hush.
Employers cover it up by not hiring you.. .they say it’s because you don’t have enough
experience as the white person they just hired.” Another states, “A white person will get a
job before a black person will”. A small number of blacks believed equal job
opportunities were possible for blacks through hard work and determination. “If a person
works hard at their job, they should have equal opportunities.
The majority of the whites interviewed believed blacks do have equal
opportunities in the work place. This view is in contradiction to the view of blacks.
“Employers look at personal characteristics such as experience and reliability rather than
race.” Yet, some whites felt employers would hire a white person first, and that blacks
would get lower wage jobs. One youth responds to the question of whether a black could
get the same job as a white, “It depends on what position, like the president of the
company, I doubt it. If it was McDonalds, maybe.” Thus, youth appear to be divided on
the extent blacks are provided equality. The differences seem to be race specific. Blacks
feel oppressed while whites believe blacks have equal opportunities.