Black students and employees must work twice as hard for half the credit
Black students have historically been told that the only way they will be able to achieve excellence is if they are “twice as good” as other (white) students. That gives them no margin of error — small mistakes turn to big mistakes and, when taken as an aggregate, can ruin already slim opportunities.
It is not an ideal situation for any Black student. That being said, it is unsurprising in that it is in direct alignment with the systematic racism and oppression that has plagued Black people since the start of slavery. From slavery grew segregation — a concentrated attempt to stop any Black students from acquiring employment, higher education and the overall freedom to move through society unencumbered by prejudice.
This dates back to the 1954 case of Brown v. Board of Education, a landmark Supreme Court decision in helping motivate universities to allow more Black students and eradicate segregation. Since USC’s early days, the University has tried to find itself on the right side of humanity by promoting racial integration: In 1907, USC conferred its first degree to a Black man, John Somerville.
Opening up the gates for Black students to strive to attend prominent universities both by setting precedent and overturning racist policy helped instill the (still understated) sentiment that they deserve to be in those classrooms. Of course, these strides in social justice do not mitigate the pressure and stereotypical threat that often comes with navigating those classrooms and managing frequent microaggressions as a Black student, from professors’ conspicuous surprise at one’s admission to doubts in a person’s ability to retain information and understand difficult concepts.
By the time Black students can take honors or accelerated classes in middle school and high school, they are already prepared to have to be better than others that are privileged enough to do less work and still receive the benefit of the doubt. A Black student will often push themselves harder to avoid the ridicule and discrimination they could suffer.
In the Fall 2020 USC student demographics report, out of the 46,000 students that attend the University, only 5.5% are Black. This clearly demonstrates that there is still ample room for improvement when it comes to recruiting students from underrepresented communities. Moreover, it cannot be stressed enough that it is not the responsibility of Black students to overcompensate in hope of gaining admission — it is the responsibility of institutions to rectify the systemic oppression inherent to its structure.
The saddest part is that these same students will one day leave their respective universities, degree in hand, ready to attack the uncertain job force that awaits them. Many of these students will then start to see how the concept of working double the time and putting in double the effort will manifest and linger in the professional world, despite their clear qualifications. They will be constantly reminded that other candidates who apply for the same job can be under qualified but still receive the position because of their race. This reinforces that Black candidates have to go through a more challenging and rigorous process to get noticed by their desired employer.
Harvard Business School conducted a study to examine how candidates from marginalized communities “whiten” their resumes, which involves omitting information such as hobbies, names and membership of organizations that would directly identify them to a particular race, to receive callbacks for an interview. Twenty five percent of the Black candidates who whitened their resumes received a callback, compared to 10% of those who included details that indicated they were from an underrepresented community. It is absurd that such a candidate would have to leave out certain details to increase their likelihood of getting a job — that is blatant, unadulterated racism that perpetuates the misguided idea that minority applicants should subvert their identities to get ahead.
Not to mention, the added stress and discouragement of being constantly reminded as a Black student that the only way to get an opportunity and maintain it is to put one’s best foot forward at any given moment and go above and beyond whenever possible is exhausting and debilitating. White or white-passing individuals do not have to face these internal struggles because they do not have any reason to think their efforts or contributions will be interpreted in an idiosyncratic way. The hard work Black students must put in to even the scales does not eliminate these stereotypes — it actually perpetuates them.
On that note, it is integral that workplaces and schools continue to broaden their work of acknowledging implicit biases and the discrimination that is built into these systems. Stereotypes must be unlearned, both at the hands of these institutions, who must actively work to mitigate these effects, and at the hands of the Black students implicated, who should never feel like they have to prove themselves beyond what any qualified candidate or student would.
As the world continues the difficult dialogue of racism in the United States, a conversation that has been once again cast into the spotlight in the aftermath of the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and many more at the hands of the police, it is imminent to address the systemic racism that permeates education and the workplace.
One can only hope that fairness and equality will become the main (and only) factors in measuring the qualifications of a Black student and that this will carry on to their professional careers. Going to extremes to be accepted as qualified simply to mitigate racial prejudice should never have been the standard, and it is absolutely essential that all schools and workplaces take action to make sure it never is again.