Diversity in the Workplace
June 24, 2015
Opinion articles do not necessarily represent the views of the
Portland Observer. We welcome reader essays, photos and
story ideas. Submit to news@portlandobserver.com.
Page 7
O PINION
First Job Brings More than a Paycheck
Summer jobs for
youth pay future
dividends
M ARC H. M ORIAL
I can still remem-
EHUP\YHU\¿UVWMRE²
and the valuable les-
sons I learned from it
that continue to inform
my career to this day.
, JRW P\ ¿UVW WDVWH RI HQWUHSUH-
neurship as one-third of a three-
man janitorial company I started
with two childhood friends. We
mowed lawns, washed cars and
FOHDQHGZLQGRZV,ILWQHHGHG¿[-
ing or cleaning, we were the ones
to call.
At the age of 15, I earned my
¿UVW VWHDG\ SD\FKHFN DV D FRS\
boy for a local newspaper. Like
so many millions of teens before
and after me, I had the chance to
be exposed to the world of work
at an early age. And I earned more
than money from the experience.
With work came important lessons
BY
about responsibility, effective com-
munication, time management, in-
terpersonal skills and more.
Today, as our nation continues
to recover from the crippling
impact of the Great Recession
on our economy and job market,
the ability of teens to jump-start
their future careers, as they were
once able to, remains in jeopar-
dy.
Not only did jobs disappear
during our nation’s economic
downturn, summer jobs—widely
acknowledged as the traditional
means of entry into our nation’s
workforce for teens and young
adults—became scarce. Competi-
tion from older workers for those
entry-level jobs once reserved for
teens increased as the labor market
weakened, and with states slashing
budgets to make ends meet, state
and federally funded summer jobs
placement programs were either
underfunded or cut.
But teen employment matters
for their future and for our nation’s.
It not only gives young people
something productive to do during
the summer months, that job in
the retail store, library or the local
newspaper is money in their pock-
et and money being spent within
the community. Studies have also
shown that those who work when
they are young are more likely to
be employed in the future and will
earn higher salaries.
After a high of 27.2 percent teen
unemployment in 2010, according
to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
unemployment for workers ages
16-19 is now down to 17.9 percent.
As is the case with adult workers,
WHHQV DUH EHJLQQLQJ WR ¿QG MREV
as the market recovers, but unem-
ployment remains high for young
people—disproportionately affect-
ing low-income youth and blacks
and Hispanics.
The national unemployment rate
stands at a staggering 30.1 percent
for black teens and 19.2 percent for
Hispanic teens. The groups of teens
who need the work most in order
to help themselves, and very often
PDNH D VLJQL¿FDQW FRQWULEXWLRQ WR
WKHLUIDPLO\¶VEXGJHWDUHQRW¿QG-
ing the jobs.
Our nation’s answer to this di-
lemma has been a fractured portrait
of private and public initiatives and
success. Cities and states have cob-
bled together money—when it’s in
the budget— and have funneled
it to local groups or agencies that
connect youths to jobs or job train-
ing.
In 2012, the White House
launched Summer Jobs+ as part of
the “We Can’t Wait” initiative. The
project brought together the federal
government and the private sector
to create 180,000 employment op-
portunities for low-income youth.
At the National Urban League,
we work with at-risk youth to in-
troduce them into the workforce
through a comprehensive set of
services through the Urban Youth
Empowerment Program.
While all of these efforts are
laudable and have changed many
lives and communities for the bet-
ter, it is not enough. Our nation
needs to expand summer job pro-
grams and create year-round em-
ployment for our young people.
We need a commitment that says
yes to teens and to their future. Our
nation needs a comprehensive jobs
solution for young people, because
piecemeal solutions will only de-
OLYHUIDUÀXQJSRFNHWVRIVXFFHVV
Investing in our young people
is an investment in the continued
strength of this great nation and its
workforce. Young people need the
formative workplace skills they
can get in those entry-level jobs to
move on to greater career success
and higher salaries in the future.
Our nation, and its local econo-
PLHV EHQH¿W ZKHQ WHHQV VSHQG
their disposable income. Surely
there are tax loopholes, corporate
or otherwise, that can be closed,
bringing additional dollars to the
table to invest in our young peo-
ple.
7KH¿QDQFLDOFRVWRIQRWLQYHVW-
ing in teens, not creating opportu-
nities for future success, is what
will cost this country, and our fu-
ture in the fast-paced global econo-
my, the most.
Marc H. Morial is president and
FKLHI H[HFXWLYH RI¿FHU RI WKH 1D-
tional Urban League.
Being Black; Rachel Dolezal; and Charleston
Painful reminders on issues of race
BY J AGGER B LAEC
A man on Twit-
ter once said, ‘I
have a dream…that
I will live in a world
where white people
care about black
people before Jon
Stewart tells them to.’ That man was
Clint Smith, poet, activist, and PhD
candidate at Harvard University.
This is my current situation. The
white people in my life just don’t care.
0\ ¿DQFp LV ZKLWH DQG KH GRHVQ¶W
want to hear it anymore. He told me
he’s tired and asked me if we have to
discuss race every single day. My best
friends are all white and they have
been radio silent for the past year for
every single shooting of an unarmed
black man, for every utterance of
#BlackLivesMatter, and even recent-
ly within the last two weeks where ra-
cial identity and relations in America
have seemed to boil over.
But what exactly do I expect?
These are the same people I spent
my adolescence pretending not to be
black. Hiding my natural hair under
weaves and braids not to protect my
coif, but to protect me from what I as-
sumed would be ridicule and rejection
in opposition to the European beauty
standards my friends all replicated.
I grew up in a predominantly
white suburb and at times as the only
“Black Girl In Suburbia” I wore my
“to
“token
black girl” status as a badge
of honor. People in my small town
of Monroe, Conn. were used to me
an
and despite being visibly black I was
oft
often referred to as an “Oreo” and
tol
told I “sounded white.”
For 20 plus years I was comfort-
ab
able with this position. Until just re-
cently I left my comfort zone to move
to a place that, unbeknownst to me
prior to living here, is often referred
to as “Whitelandia” or “Whitetopia.”
,FDPHWRWKH3DFL¿F1RUWKZHVW
Portland, Oregon. When I moved to
southwest Portland it was nearly three
weeks before I had seen, let alone
encountered another African-Ameri-
can. I began to fear whether I would
ever see anyone who looked like me
again. Although I grew up around
white people this was something to-
tally different. Because I had always
been able to assimilate with my white
friends I never imagined the way I
looked would be a factor in how peo-
ple interacted with me. People I met
were never overtly racist but they
seemed strangely uncomfortable and
, KRQHVWO\ FRXOGQ¶W ¿JXUH RXW ZK\
Never before in my life had I been so
hyper aware of my blackness. Before
moving here I was familiar with sev-
eral local cities that had beautifully di-
verse populations outside of my own
hometown. I had never seen a metro
area be so overwhelmingly white.
So here I am. In a place where I
KDG QHYHU UHDOO\ VSHFL¿FDOO\ GH¿QHG
my racial identity and it felt as though
,ZDVKDYLQJLWGH¿QHGIRUPH'HVSLWH
P\SUHYLRXVH[SHULHQFHV,¿QGP\-
VHOIIDFHGZLWKMXVWKRZGLI¿FXOWLWLV
to adjust to being black within a white
space all over again.
,Q WKH 3DFL¿F 1RUWKZHVW , DP
merely a few hours away from Spo-
kane, where the now infamous Rachel
Dolezal was able to fool the world into
thinking she had what it takes to easily
be a black woman.
Just one look at any comments
section on Facebook will tell you that
white people were both fascinated and
intrigued while being simultaneous-
O\EDIÀHGDQGÀXPPR[HGDVWRZK\
on earth a white person in this coun-
try would possibly want to be black.
Some even went as far as accusing her
of mental illness.
Talk show hosts, professionals, and
twitter spent four days straight exam-
ining exactly what it takes to be black
in America based on the observations
of one single white woman. For what
VHHPHG OLNH WKH ¿UVW WLPH HYHU WKH
main stream media was spending
WKHLUKRXUQHZVFRYHUDJHGHEDWLQJ
the complexities of life in the US as
a black woman who just happened to
be white.
Many, including myself, felt out-
rage and offense that this lady from
the most privileged demographic in
today’s world would attempt to adapt
our struggle. Not because this struggle
LVFRYHWHGEXWEHFDXVHKHUGH¿QLWLRQ
of blackness was limited to a blotchy
spray tan, crooked weaves and some
African studies classes. Others, even
black people, didn’t see what the big
deal was and thought what she was
doing was harmless.
For me it was painful to watch as
this woman ran around presenting
herself in a costume of what she inter-
preted as being black costume which
she could slip on and off like a nice
SDLURI-RUGDQ¶V6KHQRWRQO\LQ¿OWUDW-
ed safe spaces for African Americans,
but prevented already marginalized
black women from gaining opportu-
nities like a full scholarship to How-
ard University.
This was all under the guise of an
oppression she has never and will
never endure. Dolezal stole count-
less hours of precious time from
platforms created to give a voice to
legitimate black women with real
experiences who will now continue
to go unheard.
Dolezal appeared a week after
ZHZDWFKHGDQRI¿FHUPDQKDQGOHD
\HDUROGJLUOLQ0FNLQQH\7H[DV
DQG GD\V EHIRUH WKH DWURFLW\ WKDW
the world is witnessing right now in
Charleston, S.C.
Two days ago a white male
walked into a black church on a
self-proclaimed mission to kill black
people. Rachel Dolezal will never
know what this feels like. Innocent
black people are being murdered and
brutalized while black people are
being forced to relive these events
repeatedly through our insatiable
consumption of news coverage and
social media.
I am so exhausted from seeing
these non-stop images of lifeless
black bodies. I am so tired of seeing
black girls and women being pushed
around by those expected to protect
and serve. I am sick of making RIP
hashtags. All of these things are a
painful reminder of the consistent
dehumanization we face as a people
in this country.
I myself was guilty for many
years of a kind of “don’t ask don’t
tell” mentality when it came to my
culture and a regular subscription to
white supremacy. However, when I
PRYHGWRWKH3DFL¿F1RUWKZHVWDQG
P\UDFHEHJDQWRGH¿QHZKR,ZDV
to other people I embraced letting it
GH¿QHZKR,DPWRP\VHOI
Being black is a beautiful burden.
It is not something you can just wash
RII6RZKHQP\¿DQFpVD\VKHLV
tired of talking about race I must re-
mind him that so are we.
Jagger Blaec is a professional
freelance journalist. She has a Bach-
elors of Science in Journalism and
her work has been published at XO
Jane and Scallywag and Vagabond.
She is currently helping to develop
a blog for the Portland-based docu-
PHQWDU\¿OP³%ODFN*LUOLQ6XEXU-
bia” which focuses on what it is like
to grow up black in a white space.
You can follow her tweets at @basic-
blaecgirl.