1. An African American male from a prestigious college that had been with the company for eight years.
2. A white male that went to a community college that had been with the company for three years.
We choose the number #2. This caused #1 to immediately threaten to sue the company for racial discrimination. Why did we choose #1? Besides having never been late or used a sick day in the three years that he had worked for the company #1 had taken six voluntary workshops (#2 had only taken one), and on his own time had learned German. The position that opened up would have required frequent interactions with our German branch. When we explained to #2 why he was passed over he screamed racism and stormed out of my office. He then sued the company and the company settled.
I have worked at my company for twenty-seven years and I handle most of the hiring and firings in our Eastern US offices. I do not like to hire minorities or women. Minorities and women have an excuse. Get passed for a promotion? Racism/Sexism. Didn't get the raise that they believe they deserve? Racism/Sexism. Just don't like something? Racism/Sexism.
The reason that I don't want to hire minorities or women is because they cause more headaches. In fact, I shouldn't say minorities. East Indian and Asian males do not cause more than normal amount of problems. I know that this sounds like a stereotype but I am speaking from personal experiences. There are plenty of good female, black, and latino workers. In fact, I am one of them.
I am black. I've been black all of my life. I have had to deal with a few racial discriminations incidents in my life. I've been harassed by police officers and I've been followed by clerks as I shopped in stores. Race is an issue but we African Americans need to stop thinking everything revolves around it.
I get so frustrated by this. To be honest, I want to root for my fellow African Americans but the average black (or latino) worker will be late or sick or something more than the whites and when you reprimand them for this this they say it’s racism. I’ve had multiple incidents where a black employee has called me an Uncle Tom for forcing them to follow the rules.
I'm going to be called an Uncle Tom just for writing this. Any time a black man tries to speak about these things he gets treated harshly by those in the black community. Just ask Bill Cosby. The fact remains though, until those of us with darker skins stop making excuses for our failures we will never succeed.