The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

As an African American female I have experienced and witnessed many instances of bias, prejudice, and oppression. Living in a small rural town in Georgia does not help. I remember an incident of bias and prejudice in the summer which involved my nephew applying for a library assistant. Being an African American male he filled out the application filled the education part out where he put his college courses he took for business administration. He did not receive a call to come in for an interview. He learned that a white woman with no education or training got the job.

The ways the bias and prejudice diminish equity includes not calling my nephew in for an interview, hiring an uneducated white woman without training for the job, and discriminating against an African American male.

The way this incident would have to change into an opportunity for greater equity would be to call my nephew in for a job interview and provide a knowledge test for both the white woman and my nephew. The applicant that passed the knowledge test and interview should be hired for the library assistant job. This would show that the color of someone skin or gender did not have anything to do with which applicant got the job.