S&C8

XV. SAMPLE SUMMARY AND COMMENT PAPER

Jill Howard

History of Economic Thought (WRTG)

January 29, 2016

Title: "Howard University Graduates Fail to Gain Corporate Leadership"

Summary: This article states that, despite affirmative action programs, most blacks who graduate from Howard University with a degree in business do not gain prominence in the business world. Examples are given of blacks who were given dead-end jobs to fulfill a quota and of others who were fired after a short tenure in a management position. The article suggests that continuing racism among corporate executives has led them to circumvent affirmative action by making only token gestures to bring them into apparent compliance with civil rights regulations.

Comment: It appears that decades of struggle against such racism as described in the article have not succeeded in opening the doors of equal opportunity to blacks in business. While there are a few Barry Rands and Renee Higginbotham-Brooks who occupy important corporate and political positions, most blacks continue to be deprived of their proper opportunities. The continuing racism suggested in this article also raised the possibility that only those blacks who are willing to "toe the line" and carry out the dictates of racist corporate executives will be promoted.

It seems to me that the continuing discrimination against blacks in regular jobs is more important than the lack of business opportunities for blacks. The fact is the black median income is only about 57% of white median income for families of four; it is this broader discrimination which is more important to black peoples' lives that the discrimination experienced at the top of the corporate ladder.