Educated, Black and Broke
Your favorite Starbucks barista, the Walmart associate, and that Taco Bell cashier that always hooks it up with the free drinks, are a few of the people carrying the burden of promises for success and prosperity that never materialized.
Young people are promised that a college degree is the gateway door to a better socioeconomic status. But after years of accumulating back-breaking debt, college graduates quickly come face to face with the unforgiving reality that college education does not equal economic prosperity.
And while all college graduates share some common struggles, race is a major differentiator between graduate groups and is a facet rarely explored.
A couple months ago, I worked at the Midtown Best Buy as a Customer Service Associate. After standing in the same spot cashiering for what felt like a lifetime, my feet started to ache and I had enough. I decided to go on my well-deserved lunch break. I quickly walked over to the Taco Bell across the street and proceeded to order my usual. I needed to make it as fast as possible, I only had 30 minutes.
As I grabbed my cup and walked over to the fountain drinks, I noticed the cashier lady following me. We’ll call her Linda. Linda positioned herself close enough for me to hear her whispering, “It’s so great to see other black people ‘round here,” I was caught off guard, “there ain’t many of us folks here.” She continued as I nodded in agreement and confusion.
We stood by the fountain drinks machine and she proceeded to ask:
Linda: Where are you from?
Me: Originally from Somalia, where are you from?
Linda: SOMALIA!
At that point we started talking about the African diaspora and its manifesting effects and influence — a topic for another paper.
It was 15 minutes into my lunch break. I still haven’t eaten and I was talking to this woman whose name I did not know, but who seemed exceptionally educated. I was genuinely curious.
Me: I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before.
Linda: I usually do night shifts, but the manager asked me to come in for an easier shift today.
Me: I see. You like working here?
Linda: Ohh honey! I’m just here due to my circumstances. I graduated Stanford University class of ’77 with two degrees and received an MD from Howard University. I’m a medical physician, and I rather be doing that.
I had so many questions, but not enough time to ask any. My lunch break had been over five minutes ago and I had to run back. Linda handed me a pen and paper and asked for my information. I wrote down my email and phone number, and dashed off back to work hoping that we would be able to connect sometime soon so I could get some answers.
I went back to that Taco Bell a couple more times, and never heard from her again. I never learned what had reduced her to working a minimum wage job when she had acquired degrees from such prestigious institutes.
Hopefully, Linda found a job more fulfilling and right up her alley. Her story stuck with me though. I couldn’t wrap my head around how someone can be so blessed to have multiple degrees, yet so cursed to end up working at a fast food restaurant and their degrees merely as decorations.
Like Linda, many college graduates end up either unemployed or underemployed. For black/African American graduates its a lot more common. According to research, “race and gender, and not achievements, appear to be consistent predictors of success in the labour market,” 12.4 percent of black graduates are unemployed, more than twice of the overall rate of unemployment for all college graduates.
Most of these unemployed people harbor so much potential and capacities across many different fields. Among those whose potential is never explored nor given a chance to flourish are black women, major contributors to the American society. According to “The Status of Black Women in the United States,” they have made significant improvement in earning college degrees and are succeeding in opening their own businesses.
Yet, they make up 9.6 percent of the overall unemployment rate for women in the United States. Despite their unparalleled strides in education, their active and continuous participation in society black women do not receive the recognition nor opportunities they deserve. A deeply rooted systemic issue in a society that has historically deemed the black female inferior morally, socially, and economically. Inequality in the work force is only one facet of the many dimensioned institutional racism that is so prevalent in the patriarchal nation which we live. As a black woman on the verge of graduation it’s frightening that I might end up simply as a statistic.
A statistic that reflects the racial and gender inequality in our institutions. Systemic oppression is very real and apparent in our work force. Fair and equal opportunities is nothing short of a lie sold to the American public. It is already hard to find a well-paying job post-graduation as it is. Now, add some blackness and female anatomy to the equation and it’s a nightmare.
