June 6, 2021 - "The Scourge of Racism" - Week 2

Over the last month, we have been looking at Open Wide Our Hearts:  The Enduring Call to Love, a pastoral letter that the Catholic Bishops of the United States issued in November 2018.  In that letter the Catholic bishops urge all Catholics to acknowledge “the scourge of racism” that still exists in our hearts, words, actions, and institutions.  Racism can be individual, when persons fail to recognize certain groups as created in the image of God and equal in dignity, or it can be systemic, where practices and policies treat certain groups of people unjustly.  One area of systemic racism is lack of access to equal employment opportunities for many persons of color. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have issued a well-written background sheet on “Racism and Employment” that will be my source of information for what I say in this column.  Here is the link for the backgrounder for those who wish to consult it directly:  racism-and-employment.pdf (usccb.org)
 
Pope Saint John Paul II reminded us that due to every person being created in the image and likeness of God, everyone who is willing and able should have access to opportunities for fair employment.  Unfortunately, this was not the case for Native Americans, African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, and many immigrants throughout the nation’s history—and fair access to employment remains a challenge today.
 
For Native Americans, colonial and later U.S. policies led to the loss of land, restrictions in self-governance, and economic devastation, and employment devastation that left a legacy of low educational attainment and unemployment rates which remain among the highest in the country.  Throughout its history, the United States has, especially during times of economic distress discriminated against and placed legal restrictions on newly arrived groups of immigrants and blamed them for social ills.  The blame, discrimination and legal restrictions were detrimental to the impacted groups and led to restricted access to employment opportunities and other means of advancement.
 
After the end of slavery until the First World War, 90% of African Americans lived in the South, the great majority toiling as sharecroppers.  The entailed back-breaking labor in white landowners’ fields for a small share of the crop and often substandard housing.  In addition, the imposition of Jim Crow, which guaranteed segregation and disenfranchisement, was ample impetus to leave the South for god.  With the start of the First World War in 1916, the Great Migration brought black laborers north to work in factories. 
 
However, they faced many challenges.  Many white residents in northern cities resented the new black residents, and tensions could boil over into violence and riots.  Despite high available salaries than those in the South, black migrants to the North were typically relegated to lower paying jobs.  The Great Depression further eroded job possibilities.  Even with post-Depression economic recovery, many labor unions that secured just wages were closed to African Americans, as were many professions.  Even college-educated African Americans often found limited entry-level employment.  Unemployment, under-employment, and discrimination in the workplace were the norm.
 
Part of the Civil Rights agenda in the 1960s was focused on jobs with dignity and job training opportunities.  The U.S. Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) was created in 1964 to protect against illegal discrimination in the workplace, which unfortunately has continued.  In 2016 and 2017, for example, investigated tens of thousands of racial discrimination cases.  Employment disparities among college graduates of different races persist.
 
In 2017, the Harvard University Business School Review documented the hiring discrimination against African Americans was still a reality—and did not decline in the past twenty-five years.  The authors note that despite a growing concern with diversity, “subtle forms of racial stereotypes” in the work place and “unconscious bias” have shown little change: support for more affirmative action policies and stronger enforcement of antidiscrimination legislation is critical because this pattern “will not diminish on its own.”  The unemployment rate among African American workers and Hispanic workers is still higher than for whites, and in fourteen states and the District of Columbia black unemployment is at least twice as high as white employment.  Native American communities often have vastly higher unemployment than the national average.  Unequal opportunity still remains a concern.
 
A closing thought from the U.S. Bishops:  “All too often, Hispanics and African Americans … face discrimination in hiring, educational opportunities, and incarceration.” (Open Wide Our Hearts).
 
Until next week,
Fr. John