Slashdot Mirror

Replying as AC because I've already spent quite a few mod-points on this thread. My actual username is NicBenjamin.

It's actually quite difficult to win a race or gender discrimination suit. The salad days of the 70s, when you could have your statistician play with the numbers until there was only a 4% chance of you not being hired/promoted/etc. due to your race ended when Nixon started appointing segregationists to the Supreme Court. Same with gender.

Since Jurors have much more sympathy with people who look and act like them, white suburbanites frequently win suits:
http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2...
http://dailycaller.com/2014/08...
http://www.diversityinc.com/le...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2...

I think this is the statistic he's talking about.

psst - s/he/she/ :-)

No, this one (partial quote only)

The FBI estimates that 50 percent of its criminal records contain errors. No HR professional wants to hire a person with DUI convictions to drive a vehicle or someone convicted of child abuse to work in a school. But disqualifying every applicant with a criminal record for every job is unnecessary.

This is especially true because of profound changes in the criminal-justice system. When I was 17, I punched another young man in an argument in the local pool hall. The security guards promptly "escorted" me to the manager’s office. The manager called my father, who assured the manager that if he would allow my father to handle the situation, I would never enter his establishment for the rest of my life. To this day, I have never returned. If my son were to repeat my foolish mistake, he would unquestionably be arrested for assault and battery, and the conviction would follow him for the rest of his life. Literally millions of people in the United States today have criminal records because they were caught smoking marijuana at a rock concert 10 years ago, accidentally bounced a check, or got into a shoving match with another driver after a fender bender. Many of these people can be excellent employees.

Consequences

Refusing to hire anyone with a record is not only unnecessary, it takes a huge bite out of the applicant pool. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 30 percent of America’s adult population has a criminal record. Among people of working age, about 40 percent have criminal records. For some demographic groups, the rate is even higher. More than 50 percent of Black males have a criminal record. As the United States’ demographics continue to change, the problem presented by using criminal records as an employment screen will continue to grow.

Enforcement of the law is still highly selective. How many banksters went to jail?

Not if the government is the one suing, because it's in the interest of society as a whole to make it possible for former criminals to actually be rehabilitated and contribute to the system.

Considering that 40% of the adult American working-age population have criminal records, many of them for completely stupid and banal offenses, do you really want to make it so impossible for someone to be honest that they have to return to crime just to eat?

If I'm for a position, is it bribery when I donate to a politician that shares my views?

Of course not. But I will warn you that when it turns out that the politician you're supporting does something unpopular, you're supporting that too. If you had just bribed them you'd have the excuse of saying "I don't support him I just needed him to vote ___ on S.B. 12345". See also...

1) http://www.diversityinc.com/diversity-and-inclusion/debunking-the-affirmative-action-myth/

2) Black Americans face far higher rates of poverty, therefore it is unsurprising that, on a per capita basis, they receive a higher proportion of welfare services.

3) That's just idiotic.

4) White American males are often cast as the poster boy for gun violence because, frankly, white males commit the vast majority of firearm related crimes. Most of the recent mass murderers have been white males.

5) The reverse is much more often true. Ex: Vidor, Texas.

6) While you know nothing about me, I can surmise a few things about you. You are a racist and a homophobe, otherwise known as a bigot. The term "white race" is used almost exclusively by white supremacists. The fear that the "white race" is facing genocide is a clear indicator of racism. The fact is, there is no "white race" or "black race" or "asian race". Humanity is made up of a wide variety of ethnicities that cannot be broken down by "race". Race is not even a valid term, biologically speaking.

For the record, I am a 43 year old white male. I have lived in majority black areas and majority hispanic areas, and I have seen first hand the barriers they face in achieving the so-called American dream.

• Jefferson, who served two terms between 1801 and 1809, was described as the "son of a half-breed Indian squaw and a Virginia mulatto father,"
• President Andrew Jackson was the son of an Irish woman who married a black man.
• Lincoln was said to have been the illegitimate son of an African man
• President Warren Harding, the 29th president, had black ancestors between both sets of parents.
• Coolidge, the nation's 30th president, served between 1923 and 1929 and supposedly was proud of his heritage.

While Obama may be the first dark skinned African American, applying the "first African American president" to him could be seen as discounting the heritage of past presidents.

Mij

All this cloak-and-dagger stuff begs the question: "Can't we all get along?"