Dave's iFriday: Mask

A study utilizing pairs of black and white job applicants with identical credentials found that in 476 hirings in Washington, DC, and Chicago, "unequal treatment of black job seekers was entrenched and widespread, contradicting claims that hiring practices today either favor blacks or are effectively color blind. In 20 percent of the audits, whites were able to advance further through the hiring process than equally qualified blacks."

Opportunities Denied, Opportunities Diminished: Discrimination in Hiring
Margery Austin Turner, Michael E. Fix, Raymond J. Struyk, The Urban Institute

It should be noted that I changed the story that goes with this picture. Mister Blank is responding to Permanent School Exclusions Rise, a story about possible racial bias in British schools. Out of nearly 1,000 students who got expelled for disruptive and violent behavior in 2004, blacks were nearly three times more likely than whites to face this punishment.

Artist's Excuse: As you've probably guessed by now, the art was done a long time ago (it was published as an Op-Ed piece in 1991). At 'blog posting time, however, I couldn't remember the specific study I drew it for. I felt there had to be some text, and posted the first Google-searched "racial bias statistics" story that seemed to fit as a placeholder. I have since found the Urban Institute study, and replaced the British School reference. Unfortunately, this update didn't happen in time to stop Mr. Blank from responding to the wrong story.

Hi. This is Sal Governale: Please accept my most sincere apology. While journalistic sloppiness seems to be an internet badge of honor, it's not right by me. Such an error in judgement will not happen again.

iFriday Dave

Illustration Friday (IF, iFriday) was a weekly challenge to illustrate a one-word theme (wind, smoke, invention, etc.) globally announced on Friday nights. It was similar in spirit to Photo Friday, 24 Hour Comics, 48 Hour Films, and Sketchcrawl. Participants usually posted on their own blogs, then shared links to various iFriday boards. This is from my 2006-2007 participation.