Tragically, yes, 'tons of white guys', are hired every day at the expense of so many qualified females and minorities who are institutionally discriminated against. Clearly this is the case.
These privileged 'white guys' have access to so many more avenues than those who don't have the fortune of sharing their race/gender (69's, OWAP, MIA, etc.). Clearly missing in Major/Legacy recruiting ads are these victims of discrimination who, as you say, "...don’t see themselves in those positions."
Looking through the united video (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXIr9LNclPQ) I didn't see a single female or minority. I don't see any in these company approved/sponsored pilot application sites either...
https://swa.pilotcredentials.com
https://fedex.pilotcredentials.com
https://aa.pilotcredentials.com
Apologies for the sarcasm (had to lighten things up), but I don't see the point being made that there's any reason TODAY,
other than personal choice, excuses, health, or finances (none of which are gender/race related), for
PEOPLE to find themselves outside of a flight deck. Women and minorities have better access to the financial aid organizations mentioned and recruitment opportunities than white males. They have the same--if not better, access to military fight training via Service Academies, ROTC, or barring that, the GI Bill for ratings.
The fact that white males, for whatever reason, continue to show more interest in pursuing the pilot profession is why they're hired in larger numbers by the airlines. Plain and simple. Same goes with many other blue collar professions women don't elect to pursue (construction, mechanics, plumbing, electrician, etc). It's a free country.
Whatever bias the uninformed wish to inject, HR departments, not 'white male' pilots, do the recruiting, interviewing and hiring these days and they bend over backwards to bolster their ranks with under-represented categories. At my current airline, there were 4 pilots involved in my interview, 2 males, 2 females, 1 of which was a minority. All panels had an HR rep present. No good ol' boy club here. Similar experience at United, except every slide and pamphlet had nothing but females and minorities.
I worked my way up through the regionals and for years witnessed first hand the countless number of female/minority FOs hired to the majors/legacies ahead of more experienced and qualified white male captains who couldn't even get an interview.
I agree with you that the airlines' target numbers aren't showing up, we just disagree as to why. It's not the days of old; no one is being institutionally barred from flying. I welcome evidence to the contrary.