1-Do you think the playing field has been leveled?

If so, to what extent and if so,

what evidence supports this?

According to the chapter 8 of the textbook, Koppelman mentions several things

that show that racism and being a person of color still affect the way we live in our

current society. Based on that, we can say that the playing field has greatly improved

among the years, but is not completely leveled yet. However, current events and past

late years have proven society that the improvement of the playing field is indeed in

progress, with events such as having Mr. Barack Obama as the first person of color who

became the President of the United States, the highest administrative level that an

American born person can achieve, something that was impossible a few decades ago.

However, this did not end racism, and unfortunately, with the presence of racism, the

playing field will never be completely leveled.

2-Is there evidence that race-based privilege and institutional racism still factor

into hiring decisions? If so, how?

Institutional racism and race-based privilege are still factors of hiring decisions,

even if current laws say otherwise. Today, we have mentioned on most jobs offers that

“Decisions will be made regardless of ethnicity, religion or race”. However, in the

textbook, the author mentions “word-of-mouth hiring” which affect hiring decisions and

do not give a fair equal advantage to everybody (Koppelman, 2014).

3-How was affirmative action policy crafted to address issues of privilege? Has it

been successful?
 As previously mentioned, hiring somebody regardless of race, nationality and

religion have made very little impact on society, with the presence of the word-of-mouth

method. It is all about having connections. However, affirmative action even though

helpful sometimes, is not making great improvements in hiring, where the

unemployment within minority is significantly higher than white people. When

companies still use reference method as a way of hiring new personnel, those stuck

without a connection will always be unequal, and minorities will always be working hard

laborer jobs.

4-What would be the danger in everyone assuming that the playing field is level?

It is important for companies, executives, lawmakers and above all, the human

race to understand that there is no difference between, White, Black, Asian, Latino,

Middle Eastern or Native just to name a few. A danger in everyone assuming that the

playing field is level will be the people doing jobs that they deemed was not up to their

standards, and I believe this is where the fear is. However, with the end of

discrimination and separations of cultures and skin color, the world will become a better

place for next generations to come.

Reference:

Koppelman, K. L. (2014). Understanding Human Differences Multicultural Education

for a Diverse America. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.