Examples Of Cultural Racism

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1. What is Luo’s central argument in this OpEd piece? Are these examples of personal, cultural, institutional discrimination?

Luo’s central argument in his OpEd piece is that there is a large disparity in racial inequality between blacks and whites when it comes to employment. But Luo says that this difference is even more pronounced for those with a college degree. According to Luo, the unemployment rate in 2009 for black male graduates, 25-years-old and up, was 8.4%, while for a white male of the same credentials, the rate was 4.4%. Luo points out that he does not think that this discrimination is intentional (which usually correlates to personal discrimination). Instead, he thinks employers are used to gravitating toward people who are similar to them, meaning that the discrimination blacks face in the workforce is due to cultural discrimination. There are laws that prohibit institutional discrimination, as well as legislation that encourages a diverse workspace, so there is nothing built into the system that is discriminatory. What Luo argues is that employers discriminate subconsciously because of the way the media has influenced their way
Cultural racism are societal beliefs that promote the assumptions that the products of a given culture (white) are superior to those of other cultures (black). In turn, those beliefs, which the employers have based on the applicants’ names, place of residency and sometimes even types of school/groups they belong to, can attribute value and normality to whiteness and devalue, stereotype, and label people of color as “other,” different, less than, and thus, ineligible/not wanted for a job. This way of discriminating can lead to widespread belief of stereotypes of blacks in the workforce, which explains how employers allow for the racial gap in hirees. According to the study, employers assumed the race of a person, as well as their attitude, based on the supplied

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