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Gavyn Stout

Ms. Schaner

AP Language and Composition

7 Nov. 2021

All White Interview

A cultural experience is meant to widen one’s view about the world around them. Getting

to know one’s culture is getting to know how a certain group lives their lives and what the group

most values. Given the right experience, getting to know a certain culture can be life changing.

However, to feel the full extent of a culture, research and self reflection is vital. For instance, my

cultural experience shed light onto the American hiring culture and how it negatively impacts a

certain demographic.

Getting interviewed is a process many teenagers go through, however a small number of

teenagers actually get to be the one who is conducting the interview. On Monday, October 18,

2021 I had the honor of interviewing for my High school’s new wrestling coach, just two weeks

before the season would eventually start. This opportunity gave light to many cultural problems

existing within the hiring sector of American society. While conducting the interview a variety of

questions raced through my head; Why is everyone here white? What truly makes a candidate

better for the job? Why did the interview committee use different tones with different

candidates? Why did some committee members seem obviously more interested in certain

candidates before the interview even started?

Although the interview itself could be defined as a cultural experience, it was only a

small part of my true cultural experience. My cultural experience started long before I even knew
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it would. About a week before the interview, on October 10, I messaged the old assistant coach

to let him know that I was supporting him, and hoping he would get the job. I sent this message

two days before I was offered the chance to be a part of the interview committee. This message

was the catalyst into my actual cultural experience. This simple message sparked a feeling of

personal bias that would come back to haunt me later.

The day of the interviews had arrived and I was feeling more nervous than I should have

been. However, I was still unaware of the burden a simple text message could have. As I drove

myself to the school I questioned whether this level of nervousness was normal and if other kids

my age felt the same way I did. This question brought me to my initial thought for my cultural

experience essay; What impact does the increase in teengagers who experience depression,

anxiety, and other mental illnesses have? Although mental illness is the hot topic in today’s

society, my own self reflecting questions during and after the interview would lead me down a

different path.

After the interviews had concluded, it was time for the committee to individually vote for

who they thought the best candidate for the job was. My initial reaction was, of course, the old

assistant, whom I knew and liked from the previous year. However, my gut twisted as I knew we

had interviewed a candidate more fit for the job. This decision was the moment my actual

cultural experience began. Should I go with the assistant who I told I was supporting or do I go

with the candidate who seemed to fit the job better? This one question opened my mind to a

sector of the hiring world I had never thought of.

The personal bias I had formed and the bias of the rest of the committee made me

question where this bias comes from and what implications it has on a more serious position than
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a high school wrestling coach. I found that bias is “a tendency to believe that some people, ideas,

etc., are better than others that usually results in treating some people unfairly”

(Merriam-Webster). This definition makes me wonder if all biases are bad? Can some biases aid

in hiring? How can a person overcome their personal biases? To what extent do these biases

influence America as a whole?

To truly answer the questions I was pondering, I had to do extensive research. After

diving deep into the root of bias and its merits I found that bias has shaped history in a variety of

ways. However, I was left pondering a new question, how does this bias translate into job

opportunities and hiring? Research led itself to one of the most prolific forms of bias being

implicit bias. Implicit bias is how a person feels about a certain demographic group and how it

impacts their decision on hiring members of that demographic (Bendick Jr., Nunes 240). A study

found that “Decades of related research have further elucidated how stereotypes unconsciously

influence perceptions and evaluations, and process central to employment decisions such as

hiring” (Bendick Jr., Nunes 240). History has given stereotypes to every demographic and every

group of people. These stereotypes influence peoples’ decision making on a daily basis.

However, when these stereotypes find their way into an interview, the validity of the interview is

compromised. Unless regulated, personal biases and perceived stereotypes heavily influence an

interview committee's hiring decisions. These influences, potentially result in a person less

qualified for the job being hired over a more qualified candidate who happened to be of a lesser

viewed demographic. But, what demographic is impacted the most from these stereotypes and

biases?
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Every demographic that is not white men faces challenges in the world. In America, the

African American demographic has been the most oppressed throughout history. The most

prominate example is slavery which was exiled with the 13th Amendment, but modern day

discrimination still exist. For example, From 1990 to 2015 discrimination in job opportunities

saw little to no improvement (Quillian et. al). In this 25 year period, with the exact same

resumes, African Americans had a 36% lower callback rate than their white counterparts

(Quillian et al.). This hiring difference can be rooted from the foundation of which America was

built. America was built from the slavery and the mistreatment of African Americans to advance

the power of white men. This idea that African Americans are of a lesser value only because they

produce more melanin, still persists in hiring today. Such implicit biases against African

Americans has resulted in their ability to join the workforce to be diminished. In a country that

prides itself on labor and helping the country through working, it is astounding that African

Americans are unable to join the workforce even though they are as qualified, sometimes even

more qualified, than their white counterparts. With the African American demographic being

underrepresented in the workforce, how are African Americans as a whole affected?

To answer this question I had to dive into the implications a lack of hiring, therefore

working, has a certain demographic. I found that the 36% less callback rate has resulted in

African Americans accounting for just 2.7% of America’s wealth (Quillian et al. and Sen). In

2010 the average white family’s net worth was 134,000 dollars compared to just 11,000 dollars

of the average African American family (Sen). Additionally the median wealth for a white

woman was 41,000 dollars compared to just 120 dollars for an African American woman (Sen).

The biases and stereotypes that flood interview committees have resulted in African Americans
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being unable to secure a job and make a sufficient living. This lack of job opportunities has had

detrimental impacts on the wealth of African Americans throughout America. This wealth gap is

only one of many examples of the systemic racism that runs through American society. Systemic

racism is visible throughout all aspects of America including the police force and the government

itself. The American Government is built on a winner-take-all system that ensures minority

groups do not receive proper representation in the country’s political policies. The fact that the

government itself is built through systematic racism shows the true extent that this

discriminatory behavior reaches. This, with the combination of slavery, shows that the

foundation of America was built on the oppression of African Americans to ensure white people

would stay in power. Based on the building of America, what are the repercussions of this

discriminatory behavior?

To answer this question I recalled some movements and acts that I have learned about

throughout school. School has taught me a multitude of actions and movements that have taken

place to combat racist behavior. One of the most notable movements is the Civil Rights

Movement. The Civil Rights Movement sparked from discriminatory behavior that was

oppressing African Americans, specifically the Jim Crow Laws of the South. This movement

resulted in the passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which helped to end some of the blatant

racism in American society. There has also been actions and laws that have helped to combat

discrimination, such as Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action’s goal is to allow minority

groups more opportunities in hiring, schooling, and other historically underrepresented areas by

requiring minority quotas to be fulfilled by institutions. Although Affirmative Action has good

intentions, some believe it takes discrimination against African Americans and turns the
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discrimination to white people. Although Affirmative Action is not perfect, I believe it is a step

in the right direction. However, I do not believe that programs and laws are going to effectively

overcome the systematic racism that poisons American society.

I think the true solution to the negative biases and stereotypes that have led down the path

of hidden oppression through systematic racism comes from within. The best way to overcome

and hopefully eradicate this oppression, is for people to realize that their own biases hurt a group

of people who have done nothing to deserve this oppression. Because the American Government

is notoriously terrible at compromising, true change has to come from the American people

themselves. I think that if people are able to see their biases and overcome their oppressive

thoughts, systematic racism can effectively be erased from American society.

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Works Cited

“bias.” Merrium-Webster.com. Marrium-Webster, 2021.

Web. 5 November 2021

Bendick, Marc, and Ana P. Nunes. “Developing the Research Basis for Controlling Bias in

Hiring.” Journal of Social Issues, vol. 68, no. 2, June 2012, pp. 238–262. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2012.01747.x.

Quillian, Lincoln, et. al. “Hiring Discrimination against Black Americans Hasn't Declined in 25

Years.” Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business Publishing, 30 Aug. 2021,

hbr.org/2017/10/hiring-discrimination-against-black-americans-hasnt-declined-in-25-year

s.

Sen, Rinku. “What Is Systemic Racism? [Videos].” Race Forward, Race Forward, 27 July 2020,

www.raceforward.org/videos/systemic-racism.

Works Consulted

McCullagh, C.Behan. “Bias in Historical Description, Interpretation, and Explanation.” History

& Theory, vol. 39, no. 1, Feb. 2000, p. 39. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/0018-2656.00112.