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| The Black Race is not a Close Race. We too often Stand Alone. We Don't Help One Another. Thus ALL OF US remain VULNERABLE. |
So people I've been commenting on topics like this for quite a while. I am a black man and I live in Dallas, Fort Worth. Dallas, Fort Worth per the census is the fastest growing city in the country and this is because of its healthy job market. However, there is a dark underbelly to that healthy job market in DFW for black people. We have a much more difficult time getting hired here because of racism and our inability to speak Spanish.
If you are college educated with no criminal background one would think it would be fairly easy to find employment in Dallas. However, it is not. There is an entirely different way of doing business here in Texas, which is a border state. The need for bilingual employees, where the businesses can basically get two employees for the price of one is simply too great. Because of this need, over 80% of the jobs either specifically request a bilingual person or they list "bilingual" under the highly preferred category.
These businesses don't care about your college degree or your years of experience. A person with a college degree and 20 years of experience will lose out to the 21 year old bilingual associate with no experience and only a high school diploma.
Also, we must consider the racism that is very prevalent in the Dallas, Fort Worth area. Not so much directly in the city of Dallas, but it is very difficult to get hired in the City of Dallas as that is where the majority of old and new residents to Texas are swamping companies with their applications and resumes. You've got to consider that not only are people moving to Texas from other areas of the country, they are flooding across the border. This influx of people into the state has caused wages to plummet and employers to be far more pickier about who they choose to hire. This has led to quite a bit of racial and age discrimination from what I have seen. Older black people fare far worse than others.
Forget about those glossy Ebony, Jet and Black Enterprise Magazines that try to paint a picture of black people having it so easy in this state. I have seen quite a bit of poverty concentrated among the black residents due to their inability to find work, especially good jobs that pay a decent wage. I live here. Work here. Play here. I am not someone writing from a New York Office about how "lovely" Dallas is. In all honesty, there are jobs in Dallas, but blacks find themselves being so often pushed to the lower tier jobs.
I have come to this conclusion because I know many college educated and hard working black people who are working far under their skill sets in government jobs as opposed to private sector employment. Also, companies in Dallas and elsewhere all tend to do the same thing. They will hire one or two blacks for a high or fairly high position, while other black employees will be basically barred from upward mobility. This is why so many high profile blacks are called "Tokens". People there is some TRUTH to that stereotype. White folks understand that they have to at least open the door to ONE. Everyone else is ASSED OUT. So blacks, over time started referring to the "Lone Black Person" who was able to reach the Ivory Tower, or be "Let into the Ivory Tower" I should say, as "Tokens". They are the "Token Negro". They are not there for their intellectual ability normally. They are there to "fill another role" which is to simply be there for "What they are" and not "Who they are". These black folks enjoy the "tokeness". When old folks started that phrase they knew what they were talking about. Even though I know somewhere deep down in them they understand what their purpose is. Some of them learn to sleep quite well at night and it doesn't bother them. Others are bothered by this I'm sure. In Fort Worth, TX where the white folks tend to be far more racist and unapologetic to discrimination, and racism and how it affect blacks, you can drive through a community that is 99% black as I did today and go into any number of the businesses and you will overwhelmingly see white and or Hispanic employees. Some of the businesses don't have any black employees. In a community that is 99% black!!
It's in your face. So overt. And they are unapologetic about this disparity too.
This has led to many black people languishing in poverty and despair and on the government rolls.
Even jobs that normally African Americans would be able to get in tough times if we needed them, such as a convenience store clerk, production worker, administrative assistant or cashiering position, these are all filled with Hispanics now. This shit makes me angry. We need to call for a meeting of black leaders and power brokers so that we can address how so many African Americans are locked out of upward mobility in this country.
In my opinion, our problem is that we need to change our way of thinking. That old adage of "go to college so that you can get a good job" is no longer TRUE, unless one is going into a highly specialized field in Medicine, Law or the Sciences. The reason is because employers now have figured out they don't need college grads for certain jobs. They can get a far cheaper employee and train them to do the work of a college grad for less than half the pay. Also, racism is a factor as businesses simply prefer non black employees over black employees, especially here in the South. I hate to say this but this is TRUE. I have walked into interviews and saw the recognition by the interviewers on my being an African American and a look of consternation quickly appear and fade. This has made ME uncomfortable. Frankly, I don't like interviewing with people who have a problem with my race. Yet I have to living in Texas where the balance of power is still so skewed. It's certainly not a problem with my appearance as I dress impeccably nice and I have often been told this by whites and blacks alike. My shoes are shined, my tie is straight, and I walk in any room looking like a million bucks.
So blacks need to learn skills such as plumbing, mechanic work, roofing, grant writing, SOMETHING... to allow us to enter the market either after college or in all honestly before we graduate to start making money. We live in the age of what I call "The Forced Entrepreneur" where many African Americans will be forced to become entrepreneurs. Depending on the white man or the system is no longer working for us. The white man has gotten greedier and greedier and with the aid of Republican Governors and legislators he is now able to utilize any of the many loopholes written into the law to skirt labor and employment guidelines that seek to protect us from discrimination, retaliation, et cetera.
It is not fair to look at the Lebron James and Jay Z's who will be millionaires regardless because of their unique "Talent" and the fields that they are in and say blacks have arrived. No. That is not so. These individuals are so apart from what the majority of black people are faced with and going through on a daily basis. Shit I'm fucking tired of struggling and I'm about to start really hustling. Not illegal of course. But just thinking outside the box about what skills I can bring to the market outside of the normal confines of a corporate setting. To be honest, the racism while trying to get hired is only half of it. I'm sick and tired of seeing black folks get screwed and abused on these job sites. It's not limited to the lower level African Americans either as we can see by the number of discrimination lawsuits being brought by African Americans in high profile positions, such as the Black Surgeon Dr. Christian Head who brought and won a racial discrimination lawsuit against UCLA for continued racial harassment, in which he was continuously humiliated and referred to as a "Gorilla" by his white superiors and counterparts.
Blacks can complain about racism from now until forever, however, its time now we started hedging ourselves against racism or being placed in positions where we are constantly outnumbered and beholden to an authority that has shown us time and time again it doesn't care for us and will never reward us equally as it rewards whites, for our output in their organizations. We need to take a lesson from the millions of newly arrived immigrants in this country and how they persevered to start their own business. Too many African Americans have grown accustomed to others setting up the "structure" and building the "business". We need to work for ourselves. I firmly believe this is one of the indisputable ways we can take control of our communities and our lives.
As long as we fail to become producers, ceding this territory to others, we will continue to be at the mercy of others for employment and our financial livelihoods. We simply can't continue to pass debt and poverty on to our children. It is immoral to do so.
Blacks can complain about racism from now until forever, however, its time now we started hedging ourselves against racism or being placed in positions where we are constantly outnumbered and beholden to an authority that has shown us time and time again it doesn't care for us and will never reward us equally as it rewards whites, for our output in their organizations. We need to take a lesson from the millions of newly arrived immigrants in this country and how they persevered to start their own business. Too many African Americans have grown accustomed to others setting up the "structure" and building the "business". We need to work for ourselves. I firmly believe this is one of the indisputable ways we can take control of our communities and our lives.
As long as we fail to become producers, ceding this territory to others, we will continue to be at the mercy of others for employment and our financial livelihoods. We simply can't continue to pass debt and poverty on to our children. It is immoral to do so.
Until we take control of our communities and become entrepreneurs in greater percentages than we are today, the lack of jobs and opportunities we will have will continue to lead to an increase in crime and violence in our communities.
Another thing that irks me greatly is that black people are afraid to speak out against mass immigration. However, we are the the most devastated by this. Mass immigration causes the wages to decline and employers who are prejudiced against blacks to have a ready source of low wage, eager to work, exploitable labor at their fingertips. African Americans simply cannot win if mass immigration continues to be allowed unchecked.
Last, I still see so many blacks and others flood into this state. Unaware of how low the wages are and how high racial intolerance is towards our kind. Ebony, Jet, Black Enterprise and other magazines do a disservice to our people when they gloss over the UGLY FACTS about life in certain cities. Put those magazines down, and talk to folks here in the streets for once. They can tell you how it really is.
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