Discrimination in Employment rampant (Milwaukee, Madison: find a job, neighborhoods, high school)

[MontanaZanna]

My husband and I have lived in Madison for over a year now. He is African American with a degree in psychology and lots of experience working in the social services field as well as manufacturing. He has experienced horrible discrimination in hiring. He's been "hired" at a number of jobs until he showed up on Monday and they told him they had changed their minds. He is an articulate, compassionate man who has never had difficulty finding work. We moved here from Montana -- and even in lily white MT he was sought after for jobs. We're disgusted and heart sick. And it looks like he's in another "well, we'd like to hire you, but you know" situation -- after two knock out interviews, they were supposed to get back to him on Friday and never did. He is the only one who applied for the job with any sort of experience, but here we are again wondering if his color is the problem.

By the way -- we've already done the Dept. of Civil Rights route.

Just wanted to vent, and to tell other AA men -- don't come here looking for work. Those who live in Madison, look around you--do you see black men in any positions other than police department? We don't!

Hurting in Madison.

[Milwaukee City]

He has experienced horrible discrimination in hiring.

Did you ever think the recession has left a lot of qualified individuals just like your husband unemployed and during these times he will face greater challenge of getting a job b/c he is competing with thousands of unemployed people.

He's been "hired" at a number of jobs until he showed up on Monday and they told him they had changed their minds.

Maybe they did? I know this has happened to me several times when looking for a job.

He is an articulate, compassionate man who has never had difficulty finding work.

So the first time it's hard for him to find a job in his life it must be b/c he is black?

And it looks like he's in another "well, we'd like to hire you, but you know" situation -- after two knock out interviews, they were supposed to get back to him on Friday and never did.

I had several KO interviews and then after the 6th interview I was told we decided not to hire anyone at this moment. Is that racism ?

Just wanted to vent, and to tell other AA men -- don't come here looking for work. Those who live in Madison, look around you--do you see black men in any positions other than police department? We don't!

First off, as much I as don't like Madison it is a town that prides itself on diversity and acceptance of other races so much so you can't meet one person from madison that doesn't tell you how diverse their block or church or jobs is. It's usually the first word out of their mouth..."Do you know how diverse madison is?" Maybe it's his color but if I twas a bettin' man it's probably not. It might be the blazer's he is wearing? maybe his fashion is a bit too Mr. Belvedere you know sport coat with big brown patch's on the elbows? and checkered pant's.

He is African American with a degree in psychology and lots of experience working in the social services field as well as manufacturing.

Plus your looking in Madison where it seems like 90% of the people their work in academia, which makes it tougher plus consider his age, when you have a plethora of young kids gradating why hire somebody older ? and in 10 years hire someone else. They probably can offer the young kid a below average wage b/c the kid is so eager just to get a job during these times.

Here's another thing I never understood, being over overqualified for a job, I have been turned down in the past for being overqualified they didn't tell me this however until I asked why I didn't get the job.

Plus tell your hubby not to take no for answer, keep asking , play a little PR, schmooze a little. Your selling yourself more than what you have accomplished.

PS: I wouldn't call one case....rampant!

[Harpoon]

My wife recently applied for a job and was one of the two finalists. She had more experience and more degrees than the person that was hired, but because of being female, she was not hired. This place has 32 people working at it, and only 3 women, one of whom is the wife of the person in charge. Discrimination is all around us, keep pressing forward. Would your husband really want to work at a place that didn't hire him just due to being black?

[Megan1967]

Just curious, what type of psychology degree does your husband hold? I ask because it is my impression that in Madison you have to have a Phd in psychology to get a decent job - so many highly educated applicants. I know Social Workers have to have a Masters, just a related example.

I agree his experiences seem odd, but unless the interviews were phone interviews, wouldn't the people who hired him have noticed his skin color prior to offering him a job?

Honestly, I find it hard to believe an AA would be discriminated against in this city. Everyplace I've worked has had a strong emphasis on attracting minority applicants for jobs. I know this is going to sound like I am racist (I'm not) but given two equal candidates, and I do mean equal in every way, the minority will probably be chosen because companies want to be able to demonstrate that they *don't* discriminate in their hiring practices.

I think Milwaukee City made some good points as well. I would agree that most Madisonians bend over backward not to seem racist, some more sincerely than others. I'm sorry, but I think there must be some other factors you are not taking into account.

[MontanaZanna]

I appreciate everyone's responses. Yes, we have indeed considered that it might be other reasons than his skin tone for the difficulty he's having. Which is why I asked my fellow Madisonians to look around you and count the # of black men working anywhere in this city. Not trash collectors, not at WalMart, not as bus boys, not at convenience stores.

Madison loves to claim diversity -- PLEASE! Diversity means more than having a number of folks from lots of places. It means sharing life experiences, it means an exchange, it means valuing folks who are different and giving them a place in the community.

Despite all your comments, I'm sorry but I stand on my statement. For all the great things about Madison, it suffers from discrimination. Had any of you experienced what we have in the last year, you would agree.

But thanks for caring enough to try to make us feel better.

Still Hurt in Madison

[Milwaukee City]

Oh I do agree with you in one area, madison loves to claim diversity but when you look at the numbers 84% white 5% black 6% Asian, is not what I call diverse community, they have the same idea about diversity in the Twin Cities 68% white, so the bottom line is city's may say they are diverse but they are not they just want to appear diverse. Where as Milwaukee is 40% white 40% black and 18% Hispanic and the rest is mixed races.

[gold*dust1]

Originally Posted by MontanaZanna

I appreciate everyone's responses. Yes, we have indeed considered that it might be other reasons than his skin tone for the difficulty he's having. Which is why I asked my fellow Madisonians to look around you and count the # of black men working anywhere in this city. Not trash collectors, not at WalMart, not as bus boys, not at convenience stores.

Madison loves to claim diversity -- PLEASE! Diversity means more than having a number of folks from lots of places. It means sharing life experiences, it means an exchange, it means valuing folks who are different and giving them a place in the community.

Despite all your comments, I'm sorry but I stand on my statement. For all the great things about Madison, it suffers from discrimination. Had any of you experienced what we have in the last year, you would agree.

But thanks for caring enough to try to make us feel better.

Still Hurt in Madison

Look I'm sorry you feel your husband has been given a bad rap in "my" city but quite frankly I have never made the "fake" claim that our city is diverse. Obviously based on the stats that only 5% are black, AA's do not make up any kind of majority here in population.

With that being said there is a black high school principal I know of.

[starsinthesky]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

Oh I do agree with you in one area, madison loves to claim diversity but when you look at the numbers 84% white 5% black 6% Asian, is not what I call diverse community, they have the same idea about diversity in the Twin Cities 68% white, so the bottom line is city's may say they are diverse but they are not they just want to appear diverse. Where as Milwaukee is 40% white 40% black and 18% Hispanic and the rest is mixed races.

Put your thinking cap on. Just how do you propose that the Twin Cities become more diverse? They already have over the national average in Blacks (as a percentage of population), and under the national average in Whites. If they become more diverse, some other area of the US will become less diverse.

Just what is your definition of diverse? You seem to be happy with Milwaukee's racial concentrations. Let's see now. . . if we began to implement Milwaukee's racial concentrations across the US, beginning on the East Coast, long before we made it to the Midwest, there would only be Whites left to chose from. Then what? I guess we could just kick the Whites out. We could send them all back to Europe where they came from. Right? Then we could import a bunch of Africans and Hispanics to even things out. Oh, and don't forget to add a sprinkle of other races to make your formula perfect.

Yeah, that makes sense. Those white people are all just prejudiced morons anyway. Why not let them live by themselves in Europe -- all of them. Then, all the Blacks and Hispanics and a sprinkling of other races can live in sweet harmony in the US. Isn't that just a perfect picture of peace?

Like I said, put your thinking cap on!!

[JMadison]

If you truly believe this, and the gov't hasn't been any help, perhaps if it's possible for you, relocate to a city that has an AA majority?

[subclavius]

My wife recently applied for a job and was one of the two finalists. She had more experience and more degrees than the person that was hired, but because of being female, she was not hired.

Unless the job calls for a high educational or experience level most businesses are hesitant to hire an overqualified person because they think the person will leave them as soon as something better comes along, and many supervisors don't want someone smarter than them working for them because they fear it will complicate their work or make them look stupid by comparison.

I used to live in a state that was basically a rural agricultural economy with only one or two big cities, and I felt that it was easier to get jobs there and that employers weren't as picky because they didn't have that many people to choose from. People aren't going to drive or fly in from another state just for an interview, and rural agricultural states don't produce a large number of graduates who want to stay there.

I actually agree what most people say about Madison's claims to diversity, but I think many Madisonians are innocently referring to different opinions and lifestyles, as opposed to race. I honestly don't believe that just because a city has a higher number of African Americans or any other race makes it any more diverse. I used to live in Cleveland, and despite having a much higher number of African Americans in the population, the white/black borders were extremely high. The two just didn't mix, and neighborhoods on both sides of the fence took a lot of pride in that fact.