statistical equality, is it really equal?

[JR Ewing]

Ask yourself this. When you are in need of a very important surgery and a black doctor shows up and says he will be performing it. Don't you in the back of your mind say.. Whoa.. Did AF get him here? And if so, are there more qualified people to do his surgery on me?

Is this a common thought? Or a racist thought? Or is it justified thought (even if it holds little merit) because AF has been shoved down out throats for the past 30 years so you don't quite trust the skill set out there anymore.

I'm not racist but I can come to conclusions on what AF can do to the talent pool. Logically speaking it can only lower the talent if you enroll candidates based on color and then academics versus just based on academics alone.

Not trusting the talent pool is not racist if one is aware of the weakness of AF.

There have been a large number of oil refineries, chemical plants, offshore and onshore oil rigs, etc in my area for many years, going back several generations. It's potentially an extremely dangerous environment with lots of risks to the facility, equipment, personnel, etc.

For many years, these industries were pretty much the only way most working people in my area could make a good living without having to go to college - many of the jobs within the plants didn't require college or even much in the way of vo-tech or other formal training. So the competition among the blue collar working class was always fierce.

Before the civil rights movement (and for a while after), it was mainly about having family or social connections. Then there came a very real, documented, huge AA movement for filling those jobs. I've heard many horror stories over the years from people who've worked in those plants about some of the complete morons who got in either because of their family / social connections, or especially in the past several decades because they fit certain demographics.

I've heard of lots of "near misses" at the plants that could have blown huge holes in the area due to some stupid mistakes made by those who had no common sense, who couldn't follow simple instructions, or who couldn't read or write, yet were hired anyway after bombing basic literacy tests that were based upon essential basic tools of the trade they didn't have.

I've even known people with prior experience and / or formal education in those fields who would pass those aptitude tests at a particular facility with flying colors, yet lose the job opportunity to someone else who was either better connected, or fit one or more minority categories, but who could often not find their asshole with a funnel either way.

One gal I know was even told by the local branch of a huge international refinery that she "failed" the aptitude test. She had actually spent thousands and thousands of dollars and a couple of years getting a 2 year tech cert for such an opportunity, and she knew it was some sort of error or "something".

She called that company's headquarters in another state to see what was going on. They told her she had nearly aced the test, and they offered her the same job with one catch - she'd have to move to their headquarters in a bigger city in another state. It could have been that she was not connected enough locally to get in, or it could have been because she was white. Either way, she had been lied to by the company here and had to move elsewhere to work for that company.

 

[2ez]

There have been a large number of oil refineries, chemical plants, offshore and onshore oil rigs, etc in my area for many years, going back several generations. It's potentially an extremely dangerous environment with lots of risks to the facility, equipment, personnel, etc.

For many years, these industries were pretty much the only way most working people in my area could make a good living without having to go to college - many of the jobs within the plants didn't require college or even much in the way of vo-tech or other formal training. So the competition among the blue collar working class was always fierce.

Before the civil rights movement (and for a while after), it was mainly about having family or social connections. Then there came a very real, documented, huge AA movement for filling those jobs. I've heard many horror stories over the years from people who've worked in those plants about some of the complete morons who got in either because of their family / social connections, or especially in the past several decades because they fit certain demographics.

I've heard of lots of "near misses" at the plants that could have blown huge holes in the area due to some stupid mistakes made by those who had no common sense, who couldn't follow simple instructions, or who couldn't read or write, yet were hired anyway after bombing basic literacy tests that were based upon essential basic tools of the trade they didn't have.

I've even known people with prior experience and / or formal education in those fields who would pass those aptitude tests at a particular facility with flying colors, yet lose the job opportunity to someone else who was either better connected, or fit one or more minority categories, but who could often not find their asshole with a funnel either way.

One gal I know was even told by the local branch of a huge international refinery that she "failed" the aptitude test. She had actually spent thousands and thousands of dollars and a couple of years getting a 2 year tech cert for such an opportunity, and she knew it was some sort of error or "something".

She called that company's headquarters in another state to see what was going on. They told her she had nearly aced the test, and they offered her the same job with one catch - she'd have to move to their headquarters in a bigger city in another state. It could have been that she was not connected enough locally to get in, or it could have been because she was white. Either way, she had been lied to by the company here and had to move elsewhere to work for that company.

Im not following you bru...

early in your reply, you mentioned it was challenging to get an opportunity...

then they tried to balance the scale to offer the opportunity to others...

So what is the issue here....to show how two wrongs...don't make a right ?