Current Bad Attitude of Employers Shameful

I have been in business for myself most of my life. I got thrown out of kindergarten for having a business signing the other kids' pictures.. "showed too much initiative for an Indian kid". What can I say? I'm a shameless learning sponge - I badgered adults until I got one to teach me to read when I was 3-1/2. Today, that's encouraged a lot more; back then, it wasn't, whether you were white or Indian. What a shame!
Being the independent sort, I've been in business for myself most of my life. But after 9 years alone, I met a man in 2005 & we became 'together' so much it was like breathing. He went for a walk one night, got attacked, had a heart attack & died at the tender age of 40.
I lost interest in pushing our business, which was small jobs contracting. I've done construction of various kinds since I was a kid, thanks to 11 uncles who insisted I learn their skills if I wanted to spend time with them instead of with the women learning the very questionable 'joys 'of diapers and such. I worked for various temporary agencies, always looking for a full-time job in construction. I've done a lot of interviews.
It's winter now, and it's tougher to find interviews or work.
I have been laid off from my last temporary job for a tad over 2 months now, and have continued to apply for work 'everywhere'. I've had many good interviews where the prospective employer said, "I'll be calling you", sometimes even saying about when, and then... nothing.
I thought it was because I'm female and Indn, until today. This is a very 'conservative' state, after all, & 'conservative' equals 'backward'. But then I called a friend who runs a local temporary service, and she told me she has a white man on the roster who is going through the same crap I am. She told me that like me, he has a ton of excellent references, experience to burn, and he wants a job. And he too is "appalled" at the lack of respect shown by prospective employers, too, in that he feels the interviews go well, he is told they will call him & sometimes even give an approximate date, then nothing.
In my first 'substantial' business, I had up to 17 men working for me for 20 years. I lost 6 in all that time; 3 I fired, 2 quit to move away, and 1 quit to start his own business because he 'liked the independence I had shown him he could have'. I always had more applicants than I could use. I'd like to think it was because I treated my helpers with erspect, and every applicant got a call or a letter when we couldn't use them.
In the Indn Way, when we are ashamed of someone's behavior, we ask them, "Where is your respect? Where is your respect?!?" So now, on behalf of men like this one and myself, I'm asking you employers who don't show the courtesy of calling or sending a letter to those you don't hire, "Where is your respect? Where is your respect?!?" As a sometime employer, you embarrass me with your current bad attitude and behavior in this matter.