The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has accused two major companies of indirectly discriminating against African Americans by using criminal background checks to screen out workers

Apparently it is now racist to be against hiring criminals. The growing use of criminal background checks in hiring decisions has become a flash point in the broader debate over high unemployment rates among African Americans. Not only did blacks lose more jobs and more wealth than other racial groups during the recession, they also have struggled to gain a foothold in the recovery — an issue some community leaders have called the next front in the civil rights movement. A criminal record, advocates say, is an economic scarlet letter that can send otherwise qualified applicants to the bottom of the pile. Justice Department statistics show that blacks accounted for 37% of those behind bars in 2012, even though they make up only 13% of the U.S. population.