Race and Employment

(Community Matters) Article in today’s NYT –

That race remains a serious obstacle in the job market for African-Americans, even those with degrees from respected colleges, may seem to some people a jarring contrast to decades of progress by blacks, culminating in President Obama’s election.

But there is ample evidence that racial inequities remain when it comes to employment. Black joblessness has long far outstripped that of whites. And strikingly, the disparity for the first 10 months of this year, as the recession has dragged on, has been even more pronounced for those with college degrees, compared with those without. Education, it seems, does not level the playing field — in fact, it appears to have made it more uneven.

I’m stifled by this, don’t know what to think.  It’s hard to believe there is still this level of institutionalized discrimination.  And, I know there is, has been and will probably always be a bias toward familiarity.  I’m wondering how much familiarity crosses over into discrimination.  I’ve always seen it more as inviting people you know and friends of existing employees to apply, thus the value of posting and advertising positions to achieve greater diversity.  But, would many really turn off a candidate because of their race?  not in my perspective yet the story begs the question