The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

I have a memory of oppressive behavior that happened to a family member and this sticks out very vividly in my mind. She was looking for a job after graduating from college and had a few interviews set up to go on. One morning she received a call from a company that had seemed very interested in her credentials and experience. They stated they had several positions available that they were trying to fill. They stated she had passed the phone interview stage and is now moving on to the face to face interview. They had practically assured her the job based on her qualifications and he recent degree. They scheduled her for an interview and when she arrived they had her waiting for over an hour. No one else was in the office and no other interviews were scheduled for that day so she should not have been there for over an hour. Once she finally got to the back to proceed with her second interview they had explained how the positions have been filled. She went back and forth with the lady for awhile before she finally left. She called later to speak to the person in charge and they were unaware of such behavior and they wanted to interview my family member on the spot. She was not interested in working for such a company but she felt very defeated she told me after the entire incident occurred.

This situation diminished equity because it was apparent that she had the qualifications that were needed for this job. The company was interested in her credentials at first but once they found out that she was a minority they were no longer interested in her skills nor her expertise of the job any longer. The treated her unfairly and unjustly which is not at all acceptable in our modern world.

When my cousin had explained this situation to me it really made me angry as well for a few reasons. First reason this situation made me so angry was because it was just wrong and unfair.  No one should be denied a job when they fit the description and experience needed to have the job except the skin color needed. I was also outraged by this situation because it made her so angry and discouraged. This was her first real experience with job hunting after college and this made her feel defeated. I felt this was unfair and I really felt sad for her by going through this. I explained to her that this is a very unusual occurrence and to not feel discouraged by this situation. She needs to get back on her horse and keep riding it.

In order for this story to end with a higher level of equity the young biased, racist lady that was the office coordinator needs to be stopped in her track before this company has an interaction with the wrong person that is not going to put up with what they are doing and will get them shut down and in big legal trouble. I think the racist attitudes need to be changed.