" Bamboozled "
Brothers in Corporate America

The civil rights movement smashed the barriers of legal segregation in employment and education. Affirmative Action opened the corporate door for talented, and educated minorities and women, made diversity a watchword at many firms, and vastly increased the income and earnings of African-Americans, minorities, and women. This fattened the profits of many companies. Consumer buying surveys show that African-Americans alone spend a greater proportion of their earnings on corporate goods and service than whites. Corporate officials sniff big dollars in minority communities and spend billions to advertise and promote their products there.

On the eve of World War II, a mere 5 percent of African-American men (6 percent of African-American women) held white-collar jobs of any kind. The majority eked out a bare subsistence, mostly in agriculture. Six out of 10 African-American women were household servants who often worked 12-hour days for pathetically low wages. By 1970, however, the proportion of African-Americans holding white-collar jobs had risen dramatically to 22 percent among men, The rise for women was even greater to 36 percent, due in part to Affirmative Action. For instance, today more than 30 percent of African-American men and nearly 60 percent of African-American women hold white-collar jobs. And, while the fraction of African-American families with middle-class incomes rose almost 40 percentage points between 1940 and 1970, it has inched up only another 10 points since then.

However, in the past two years African-American employees have filed colossal discrimination lawsuits against Coca-Cola, American Airlines, and Seven-Up/RC Bottling, Hyundai, Semiconductor in Oregon, Microsoft and dozens of other companies. The charges are almost always the same. They say that they are given the worst assignments, lower pay, and fewer chances for promotions. Corporate executives vehemently deny that they practice any discrimination. But the paltry number of African-Americans that have cracked the top-level corporate glass ceiling is an indication of pervasive corporate bias. There is still only a handful of African-American CEOs at the Fortune 1000 corporations. Nearly ten out of ten senior managers are white males. African-American managers make up less than ten percent of the total managerial positions for all races and are paid on average less than their Caucasian counterparts.

This piece is made from a wool-cashmere blend, silk, and cotton shirting. It is predominately machine stitched. The Buckwheat ties are vintage. The back is entirely cotton shirting. (51.5in x 46.5in)