What some people here don't understand is that sometimes you do have to give a job to someone a little less qualified. Full stop. I'm saying this as a conservative leaning moderate white male who had to pay for almost all of my schooling myself. You see, I graduated from college a few years ago, so I understand how unfair that can seem, as finding your first job can be really stressful and I was sometimes overlooked for scholarships since I'm white. But when I was a kid/teenager there weren't a whole lot of black men to look up to in technology.
I distinctly remember when I was a kid really looking up to Thomas Knoll who created Adobe Photoshop. As a kid you can't really relate to rich old white men if you're, say, a young black woman. A company as big as Apple can afford to hire a few people who are a little less qualified in the hopes of bringing a better future. If they don't work out, they don't work out, and let them go. But in all likelihood those employees will catch up and have the potential to be just as good as the rest.
It's often the case that many of these people had a ton of road blocks in their way between getting out of a bad situation and making it to an interview at Apple. If anything, it shows perseverance. I'm a reasonably intelligent person, but as a white guy college was hard enough. Imagine if you had friends from your neighborhood making fun of you for "acting white" just by trying to get an education. Or growing up without a dad, below the poverty line, with four or five brothers and sisters in a violent neighborhood. Giving these people a chance gives kids everywhere some role models of their skin color—instead of, for example, looking up to young men in local gangs. This is going to take a few more generations to sort out, but someone has to start.
Don't think I know what I'm talking about? I work at the University of Missouri. Ask me how many young black students we've been listening to at various community discussions and rallies. Many of these kids are from St. Louis. It's a problem. It's time to fix it, once and for all. As a white guy with respectable friends and family, I thought racism was mostly gone. But it's there, simmering beneath the surface, even after all these years. Just because you personally don't see it doesn't mean it isn't a thing and a big for millions of people. It's all incredibly unfortunate, and very much a thing that tends to self-perpetuate itself due to misunderstandings and different experiences. At the same time, both sides need to handle themselves respectfully. It's how Dr. King was able to make so much progress so quickly.
