Im at a data science conference in New York last week (#kdd2014), and I get BLOWN away by a speech that mentions racism/discrimination. Im curious to know everyones thoughts, regardless of race. These findings are based on empirical data, or data obtained after an experiment. Before I go any further, let me say that I am a firm believer in concepts interlaced in quotes from one of my idols, Frederick Douglass: “The man who will get up will be helped up; and the man who will not get up will be allowed to stay down.” - Frederick Douglass, Self-Made Men Speech. My post is linked just below. To be clear, I am LESS interested in emotional posts, racial epithets, or silliness etc. Or...just read to be informed. If you have some thoughts, Im interested in hearing from you. I read the entire study, so that informed my post. You dont have to do the same, but I am interested in hearing answers to questions raised in my post. https://plus.google/111687660194365426007/posts/gwDYESstbPM Bottomline, this Harvard Professor did an experiment back in the early 2000s where he used the same resume, sent it to the same companies (in two different cities), but changed the names so it was easy to see if the applicant was white or black. BUT, the qualifications were identical. The only thing different was the name, which implied race. Black names, on average, received 50% less call backs. The results BLEW me away. But, my question (raised in the post), what does one do? Do you give your kids race-neutral names? If your name is Bone-Quisha, do you change it? Is that denying your heritage? Also, the study found that better resumes for blacks did not level the playing field across racial lines. If thats the case, a trip to the courthouse to change your name does more than a $10-40000 degree. And if education doesnt really help, what does that say about national policies that encourage more education. Does that really impact discrimination? Last, the study also found that resumes from non-white neighborhoods received slight less call backs (but statistically insignificant). Should I always stay away from ethnic enclaves all with the purpose of securing a job. This is tough stuff. Does my name sound ethnic? Thats my main concern... Sheesh.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 13:22:11 +0000
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