Race Essays -- essays research papers

Although I was able to witness many different examples of inequalities in most of my daily encounters, a situation occurred that has had the ability to overshadow all of my other observations. While at work, I was able to have a conversation with a co-worker about her father’s recent loss of a job promotion. What makes this situation, such a powerful example of the force of stratification is more that just the conversation that took place but also in the context in which I had it and regrettably in my response to the conversation. I am still unclear as how our discussion began, but none the less, a co-worker, Sally and I engaged in a conversation that focused on why her father, a military Chaplain was â€Å"passed up† for a recent promotion. During my conversation with Sally, she brought up that her father had been recently â€Å"passed up† for a promotion in the Armed Forces because of racial discrimination. I was not overly shocked that Sally would say something of this nature to me, given our background of hearty debates. Intrigued, I asked Sally to explain what she meant by â€Å"passed up† because of racial discrimination. Sally proceeded to explain to me that her father had been â€Å"overlooked† at his last promotion to help fill racial quotas in the military. Sally continued her explanation, stating that her father and his loss of a promotion was a direct result of Affirmative Action. She furthered her explanation that as the population of the military becomes more diverse, in her word...