Professor Angie Beeman

PAF 3010: Race Inequality and Public Policy

Section 1. Abstract/ Introduction

This paper investigates workplace racism alongside its historical overview; the ways in which it takes place, the tolls it takes upon people of color, and how accountability can be held, pulling research from Joe Feagin’s and Karyn D McKinney’s “The Many Costs of Racism”(2003), John K. Bardes’, “Redefining vagrancy: Policing freedom and disorder in Reconstruction New Orleans, 1862–1868. Journal of Southern History. (2018), Devah Pager’s Bruce Western’s “RACE AT WORK: Realities of Race and Criminal Record in the NYC Job Market.” (2005) This paper discusses the ways in which BIPOC people are barred from getting granted a better opportunity because of their race/ color of their skin and the historical context of the workplace evolving through the very institution that America was built off of slavery and the exploitation of labor, as well as the exclusion of job opportunities of people of color being substantially lower than white people through examining statistics. This paper will also examine statistics regarding how people of color are excluded from job opportunities by evaluating the results from a study that was conducted, as well as discuss the psychological and physical effects that workplace racism takes on the victim experiencing it. Last but not least, accountability is questioned as there are systems that are fabricated to hold people accountable for workplace harassment and such injustices, but in reality, they do not embody accountability. 

Next: Sections 2 and 3: Historical Context & Statistics and Research