Posted on 09/25/2002 1:07:15 PM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:41:03 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
NEW YORK (Dow Jones/AP) -- African-Americans are 50 percent more likely to try to start their own business than whites, a new report found.
In particular, it shows African-American men between the ages of 25 and 35 with graduate-school experience are the most likely to start a company in the United States today.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
What, this title?
Frankly, this does not surprise me at all. I'd like to read a criticism of their data-gathering (always be suspicious of "statistics"), but if true, it does not shock me at all.
I suspect that there is a "root cause" for BOTH phenomena: Affirmative Action "Quota Law" (as opposed to good old Equal Justice and Equal Opportunity under Law).
Think about it: the Private Sector, as with the Population in general, is majority White. "Affirmative Action" laws create a perverse dis-incentive to hiring Blacks:
So, what's a White Majority human resources department to do?
Answer: You hire enough Blacks to meet your Affirmative Action "Quota", and then you stop hiring Blacks.
It doesn't matter how "qualified" they are, the fact is that a Black Hire can be a legal liability in the case of termination, whereas a White Hire generally is not. The Black Guy may be better qualified, but the White Guy won't have Federal Discrimination Law on his side if he files a wrongful-termination lawsuit. So, once your "Federal Negro Quota" is filled, you stop hiring Black people. You've filled your "Federal Negro Quota", and who wants the additional Legal Risk of taking on additional Black Employees who may be a legal liability if you are forced to Terminate Employment?
Trouble is, for new Black Workers entering the Marketplace, the "Negro Quota" is already filled; current Black Employees enjoy a sort of "tenure" as the Token Negroes on the Company payrolls, and the Company has no interest whatsoever in hiring additional Black Employees (they're a legal Discrimination risk in case of Termination).
So, what's a young Black Worker to do, facing a situation where the Affirmative Action Laws have made the hiring of additional Black employees a legal risk to Private Sector companies once their "Federal Negro Quota" is already filled?
Well, you do one of two things.
Either you pursue a Government Job...
...Or you start your Own Business.
And that's, "the rest of the story". As always, JMHO.
It appears that you already are but don't know it. After all, you just spoke in Ebonics.
Answer: You hire enough Blacks to meet your Affirmative Action "Quota", and then you stop hiring Blacks.
Man, OP! You just took me back to grad-school.
Seriously!
We had this circle-jerk 1-hour class called "Technology and Ethics" that we had to complete, and you could only take it in the last semester of the grad program. Anyhoo, Affirmative Action came up and we discussed it for a bit.
I told the professor that I thought that AA was the perfect system for a racist to use. When the prof questioned me, I told him basically the same thing that you are saying here; if the litmus test for "discrimination" is "proportional representation," then an employer could stop at 12% of blacks in the company and be free from any discrimination charges.
He said, "Yeah, so?"
I then suggested a similar scenario, namely, what if there were far more qualified blacks that could work for said employer. What is the employers incentive to hire them? Then I told him that I had read about the "proportional representation" nonsense in a book from Dr. Thomas Sowell entitled Civil Rights: Rhetoric or Reality.
Needless to say, I was nearly laughed out of class. But lo and behold! Three years later and the same thing pops up here.
See? I knew I wasn't crazy! I just look like it...
;-)
Per'Zackly.
The fact of the matter is, where Blacks live, they usually constitute much more of the Population than 12%... usually 25-30% of the Local Populace. We can blame this de facto Segregation on the Federal "Projects" (and believe me, I do) at least as much as we might assign blame to any kind of NIMBY "white racism", but the Facts on the Ground are what they are... in the areas where many Blacks live, they constitute 25-30% of the Local Population.
But once the Private Sector has filled it's 12% "Federal Negro Quota", they stop hiring Black people due to the legal Discrimination risks inherent in termination and downsizing. Their "Negro Quota" is filled, and they don't need the additional Legal Liabilities inherent in hiring more Black employees; "surplus negroes" will just hafta get Government Jobs, or start their Own Businesses.
Hence, the "Studies" posted above do not surpise me one bit.
Meanwhile, let's talk about that "Glass Ceiling"... and pour ourselves another tall glass of "Quota Law".
By which I mean... I am not arguing that Affirmative Action "Quota Laws" create a negative effect on the raw percentile quantity of Black Employment (although, where Federal Negro Quotas stipulate 12%, and Blacks constitute 25% of the Local Populace, AA Quota Laws very well might have a negative effect on the percentile quantity of Black Employment!!).
But that situation aside, AA Quota Laws might well serve to "guarantee" a certain "minimum quantity" of Black Employment. But at the same time that AA Quota Laws might "guarantee" a mimimum percentile quantity of Black Employment, they also put a severe kibosh on Black economic mobility.
Obviously, as concerns Economic Mobility, the creation of artificial "tenure" among current "Black Employees" creates a perverse dis-incentive to hiring new Black Employees once the "Federal Negro Quota" is filled (I've made that case above).
But what about those current Black Employees?
The same perverse "logic" applies.
If I am a White Majority human resources department, then once I have filled my 12% "Negro Quota", I am scot-free in the eyes of the Law. You're just a number to me, and I have satisfied the Affirmative Action bean-counters once I fill my Quota.
But God-Forbid I am forced to down-size.... If I am paying you $30,000, and you file a wrongful-termination Discrimination Lawsuit, you might stick me for a Year's Severance... and I am out $30 Grand. But if I am paying you $100,000, and you file a wrongful-termination Discrimination Lawsuit, you might stick me for a Year's Severance... and I am out $100 Grand.
So there ain't NO WAY you are moving up the Corporate Ladder (except for the occasional token PR advancement). If I have to Down-Size, I'd rather you stick me for $30 grand in a Discrimination Lawsuit, than stick me for $100 grand.
So get back to your cubicle and sort mail, Darkie. The Glass Ceiling is "in the house". Once I have filled my 12% "Federal Negro Quota", you're a lower legal risk to me as long as I keep you at the bottom of the pay-scale.
What, you don't like those Rules of the Game, mister Young Black Worker?
Well, then you've got two choices:
Pursue a Government Job...
...Or start your Own Business.
As always, JMHO.
Can't argue with ya, bruh. Not at all.
But now I get to work on my own biz from home and FReep at the same time. Gotta love it!
No doubt. You took the time to actually qualify your statement as opposed to throwing it about willy-nilly. No problem at all.
Maybe there are two ways of "bitching" about the current "System":
Counter-productive. POLITICALLY USELESS. Plays into the Liberal's divide-and-conquer Race-Baiting tactics.
Useful. Productive. Avoids Race-Baiting. If it were "statistically true", for example, that Jews received more Government Aid than Gentiles, don't be complainin' about "The JOOS!! The JOOS!!". Compain about the Government.
Not a criticism, just food for thought.
Err... dunno (embarassed grin). Check with rdb. I just read Sowell's articles, rdb knows his books.
As for everyone else on this thread "can't we all just get ahead"? :-)
It was one of his earlier nuclear bombs of rationality and truth.
I read the comment to be asking if "corner dealerships" were included in the numbers....NOT that this is ALL black people can do.
Think maybe you are reading to much into his post?
Just calling them how I see them, Jorge. That's all.
Well I saw the same post, as well as his follow up example of "corner dealerships" in the mountains where he grew up, that "sold moonshine".
But I didn't "see" this as saying that "all whites can do is sell moonshine".
Of course I don't see negative comments about any whites to be an insult to all whites.
IMHO you over-reacted.
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