Diversity Chat

Diversity Chat for the Week of February 26th, 2006

Download diversitychat_022606.mp3

Welcome to Diversity Chat for the week of February 26th, 2006. This week, Tony and I discuss why the Supreme Court was right to rule this week that the word "boy" can be a racial epithet. We'll also talk about the implications of a Department of Labor decision to end an EO Survey - and the racial dimension of the controversy over Dubai Ports World.  And we'll get a birds-eye view on Equal Opportunity and sexual harassment prevention training this week from someone in the training trenches for the past 15 years. We think you'll enjoy our conversation with Christina Lynch - Military Equal Opportunity Officer for the 130th Airlift Wing in Charleston, West Virginia, and staff development trainer for the West Virginia Department of Rehabilitation Services.

First, though, are headlines and links to some of the week's top stories in diversity, human relations and equal opportunity.

Is the furor over control of U.S. ports a legitimate security concern - or is it racist?

President Bush says he doesn't understand the uproar over handing management of six major U.S. ports from a British-owned firm to a firm owned by the government of the United Arab Emirates. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee doesn't understand it, either. A spokesman for the group called opposition to the deal "racial profiling at the corporate level."

http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060224/NEWS01/602240388/1006

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week that use of the term "boy" may be evidence of illegal discrimination based on race.

The ruling comes in the case of Ash versus Tyson Foods. The Justices said though it is true the word boy will not always be evidence of racial animus - it does not follow that the word boy - standing alone - is always benign.

In a separate case - the Supreme Court ruled this week that a Brazilian religious sect with adherents here in the U.S. can continue to use hallucinogenic tea in its rites and ceremonies.

The Justices noted thousands of Native Americans have been legally allowed to use peyote in their religious ceremonies for the past 35 years.

http://www.al.com/newsflash/regional/index.ssf?/base/news-19/1140543257125970.xml&storylist=alabamanews

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/21/AR2006022100598.html?referrer=emailarticle

USA Today reports efforts to ban gays and lesbians from adopting children are emerging across the country.

Steps to pass laws or secure November ballot initiatives are reportedly underway in at least 16 states.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/drivestobangayadoptionheatupin16states

A data collection tool that civil rights groups say was never used as it was intended is slated for elimination by the Department of Labor.

The tool in question is the Equal Opportunity Survey, which collects information on federal contractors' affirmative action programs, hiring procedures, and compensation. The EO Survey is designed to detect discrimination against minorities and women.

But eliminating the survey isn't a done deal just yet. The Department of Labor is accepting public comments on the proposal through March 21st.

http://www.civilrights.org/issues/affirmative/details.cfm?id=40651

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals this month ruled the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission can seek monetary damages against a huge legal firm based in Chicago in an age discrimination case.

The case against the Sidley Austin law firm alleges - among other things - that the firm downgraded or expelled 31 former partners on the basis of their age.

http://www.eeoc.gov/press/2-17-06.html

A jury in Marshall County, West Virginia this week awarded Cynthia Archer a million dollars in a sexual harassment case against PPG - a paint and chemical manufacturing company.

The million dollar jury verdict included 250-thousand dollars in compensatory damages and 750-thousand dollars in punitive damages.

http://www.news-register.net/News/articles.asp?articleID=2528

http://www.wtov9.com/news/7291745/detail.html

Ted McCutcheon - a magistrate judge in Alamogordo, New Mexico - resigned this week after a clerk alleged the judge had sexually harassed her.

McCutcheon says it's a misunderstanding. A lawyer for the victim says her client's allegations are "much more serious" than that.

 

http://www.alamogordonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060222/NEWS01/602220311/1001 

Meanwhile - a University of Michigan law professor says sexual harassment appears to be just as prevalent in workplaces as before it became illegal - and she says she knows why.

According to Catharine MacKinnon - American culture is continuing to sexualize women as men's social inferiors. MacKinnon says the widespread and expanding U.S. pornography business is the primary culprit.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/suncommentary/la-op-discrimination20mar20,1,2183704.story?coll=la-headlines-suncomment&ctrack=1&cset=true

Turning to the Olympics - Shani Davis this week became the first African American to win an individual Winter Olympic Gold Medal in the 1000-meter speed skating event in Turin, Italy.

Meanwhile - Bryant Gumbel - on his HBO-program Real Sports - blasted the Games for an absence of

African American athletes that he says makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5223953

http://newsbusters.org/node/4099

Well - if you've never heard of Florence Spearing Randolph - you're not alone. A powerful preacher and civil rights advocate in the early part of the century - Randolph founded the New Jersey Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. But after her death - Randolph fell into obscurity.

Bettye Collier-Thomas - a Temple University professor and author - says Randolph's fate is emblematic of how the contributions of Africa American women have been marginalized - ignored - and nearly forgotten.

http://www.nj.com/living/ledger/index.ssf?/base/living-0/114076511140020.xml&coll=1

Legally-sanctioned segregation may have ended 50 years ago - but a study by the Lilly Endowment finds little integration of African Americans and whites in their worship services.

The study - completed last year - found just seven percent of American congregations are considered multi-racial.

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/living/13955567.htm

Speaking of segregation - many are old enough to remember signs outside towns warning racial minorities to stay out - or clear out by sundown.

But sociology professor James Loewen - author of a new book called Sundown Towns - says those signs were actually a symptom of a much greater effort at racial purification across America starting in the 1890s - a trend Loewen calls "the Great Retreat."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/20/AR2006022001590.html?referrer=emailarticle

Race riots in the Los Angeles County jail system are continuing to draw attention to the racial strife in southern California between Latinos and Africa Americans.

At a meeting this month of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors - Marc Klugman - who heads Correctional Services for the L.A. County Sheriff's Department - said  - in his words - everything that's going on in our streets is coming into our jails.

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/stateof/hutchinson224

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/20/AR2006022000976.html?referrer=emailarticle

And finally...

Interior Secretary Gale Norton this month designated the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama as a National Historic Landmark.

Four teenage girls were killed in a savage racially-motivated bombing of the church on September 15th, 1963 - a crime that galvanized the nation and helped ensure passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Meanwhile - the family members of civil rights workers slain in the 1950s and '60s told a symposium this week at the Kansas City Kansas Community College they're still waiting for justice.

The family members say they strongly support efforts by Missouri Republican Senator Jim Talent to establish a civil rights cold case unit to bring the murderers of civil rights workers to justice at long last.

http://www.legalzoom.com/articles/article_content/article13921.html

www.doi.gov

Diversity Chat for the Week of February 19th, 2006

Download diversitychat_021906.mp3

Welcome to Diversity Chat for the week of February 19th, 2006! In this week's edition, Tony Wade and I discuss the role of bias in the ongoing national debate on immigration reform, whether or not it's time for the U.S. Armed Forces to re-think its policies on sexual orientation, and why Rush Limbaugh again proved himself to be an imbecile through a self-created racial issue on his show this week.

And we'll talk with this week with Dr. Mary Davis - President and CEO of McGlothin Davis - a well-known designer of diversity training for the public and private sector - on why diversity training is sometimes, literally, the least an organization can do.

First, though, are headlines and links to some of the week's top stories in diversity, human relations and equal opportunity.

Supporters of immigrants' rights staged protests and informational meetings in locations from coast-to-coast this week in protest of a House-passed bill that would tighten U.S. immigration law.

Protests took place in Georgetown, Delaware and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Catholic parishioners in Los Angeles are in the midst of a month-long fast to protest the bill. And a public forum on immigration took place this week in Oregon to coincide with a release of a report on immigration issues in the Northwest.

House Bill 4437, the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act of 2005, passed the U.S. House of Representatives in December and is awaiting Senate action.

Opponents say passage of the bill would make it harder for legal permanent residents to become U.S. citizens - and would turn state and local police into immigration agents.

http://www.newszap.com/articles/2006/02/14/dm/sussex_county/dsn04.txt

http://www.spokesman-recorder.com/News/Article/Article.asp?NewsID=66336&sID=4

http://www.pulsetc.com/article.php?sid=2315

http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=18732

http://159.54.226.83/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060216/STATE/602160354/1042

A Pakistani cleric placed a million dollar bounty on the heads of the cartoonists who drew images of the Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist. That move came as riots over the cartoons continued to sweep across Pakistan. Meanwhile - similar protests took place in Libya - where rioters burned the Italian consulate.

And the Muslim cartoon affair is more complex than a simple freedom of expression issue. That's according to New York Law School professor Ruti Teitel. In a commentary on findlaw.com - Teitel points out the European Commission has much less liberal provisions on free speech than the U.S. Constitution. And she says the willingness of European newspapers to publish the cartoons says more about the cultural divide between European states and their Muslim citizens than it does about free speech.

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/commentary/20060215_teitel.html

A court in Jackson County, Missouri, on Friday ruled the state could not deny a lesbian a license to become a foster parent on the sole basis of her sexual orientation. Missouri and Arkansas are the only two states that continue to bar gay foster parents. A legal challenge to the Arkansas ban is pending before that state's Supreme Court.

Jackson County Judge Sandra Midkiff cited a landmark 2003 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas state sodomy law as the reason for her decision. Missouri's attorney general says he plans to appeal Midkiff's decision.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/13902162.htm

The U.S. military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy on sexual orientation has cost the armed forces hundreds of millions of dollars since its implementation over a decade ago. That's the conclusion of a study released this week by the University of California at Santa Barbara.

The study estimates the cost of the policy at 364-million dollars - nearly double the 190.5 million dollar price tag estimated by the Government Accountability Office last year. Both studies say the policy barring openly gay people from military service increases recruiting and training costs.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/13/AR2006021302373.html?referrer=emailarticle

A survey by the American Advertising Federation shows only 15 percent of industry professionals surveyed believe their firms are successful in recruiting and keeping minority talent. And only 37 percent of those surveyed believe their organizations are effective at acquiring services from minority-owned vendors.

Wally Snyder - President and CEO of the American Advertising Federation - says the industry-wide failure to increase its diversity is hurting corporate media and marketing strategies.

http://www.aaf.org/news/press20060208_01.html

In other media news - Rush Limbaugh during a broadcast this week invented a racial element to explain why Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett dropped out of the Ohio Democratic Senate primary race against Representative Sherrod Brown. Limbaugh said - and this is a quote - "And don't forget, Sherrod Brown is black. There's a racial component here, too."

In fact, Brown is white - a point on which Limbaugh was corrected later in the program. Limbaugh refused to apologize for the mistake, saying - and this, too is a quote - "I'm not gonna apologize, 'cause I don't think it's an insult to be black."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200602160001

There's a lot of sexual harassment news this week - some of the higher profile cases include a 100-thousand dollar settlement by the Ottawa, Kansas school district. That settlement pays 50-thousand each to two school teachers who alleged sexual harassment by a principal who's since resigned.

Meanwhile - a federal judge in Miami has ordered the Broward County school board to pay 500-thousand dollars to a school custodian in a sexual harassment case. Significantly - the award wasn't for financial damages suffered as a result of the harassment. Instead, the judge ordered the award strictly on the basis of the emotional suffering of the victim.

And a former clerk for a county judge in Passaic County, New Jersey who claimed the judge sexually harassed her agreed to settle the case with the state of New Jersey for 300-thousand dollars. Neither the judge in question nor the state of New Jersey admits blame under the settlement.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/13878948.htm

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-charassment15feb15,0,85497.story?coll=sfla-home-headlines

http://kyw.com/local/local_story_046121554.html

But the biggest sexual harassment story this week may be that the California Supreme Court heard testimony in the case of Amaani Lyle - a former administrative assistant for the TV production company that produced the hit NBC comedy "Friends".

Lyle - whose job included taking notes during brainstorming sessions by the show's writers - says those so-called creative sessions were rife with graphic sexual content. Production company executives say Lyle was warned in advance the creative process would include sexually-oriented remarks and discussions. The California Supreme Court will decide if Lyle's case should be heard by a jury - or dismissed.

http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=235602006

http://www.nysun.com/article/27632?page_no=4

Claude Allen - the Bush administration's domestic policy chief and highest ranking African American aide - resigned last week - reportedly to spend more time with his family. But some Washington insiders suggest Allen resigned in protest over new DOD rules governing the behavior of military chaplains.

Allen reportedly believes the new rules didn't go far enough in allowing chaplains to practice their religious faith without restrictions.

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/02/why_did_claude.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/02/20060209-5.html

A recent study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology says little progress is being made to narrow the gap in the disproportionate impact of asthma on African Americans.

The study shows African Americans are five times more likely to die from asthma and four times more likely to be hospitalized than other Americans.

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/site.aspx/bawnews/asthma215

The National African American Drug Policy Coalition is holding public hearings this weekend in Los Angles on the campus of Loyola Marymount University. The purpose? To address racial disparities in the nation's substance abuse policies.

The Coalition convened a Blue Ribbon Commission to examine the relationship between drug policy implementation and race. The Commission Hearings aim to further those discussions. The chair of the Commission is Lee Brown, former mayor of Houston and former director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=60976

Delaware's Human Rights Commission has been asked to settle a dispute between a Boscov's department store in Dover and a local psychic.

The psychic - who is a Wiccan and an organizer of Dover's annual Pagan Pride parade - had been invited to teach evening classes in various paranormal arts at the Dover store. The store reportedly cancelled the classes after complaints by a local Baptist minister. The psychic says she's being discriminated against on the basis of her religion.

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/13856168.htm

And finally, this news of racial intimidation…

A fire station in downtown Jacksonville, Florida was closed Friday after two African American firefighters reported finding hangman's nooses on their gear when they arrived at work. Mayor John Peyton called the incident reprehensible, and has asked the city's Human Rights Commission and the General Counsel's Office to investigate.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5628081,00.html

Diversity Chat for the Week of February 12th, 2006

Download diversitychat_021206.mp3

Welcome to Diversity Chat for the week of February 12, 2006! In this week's edition, Tony Wade and I discuss the Bush administration's efforts to reach out to the African American community. We also talk about the real reasons behind the lower number of complaints logged by the EEOC in fiscal year of 2005 - the third year in a row complaints have fallen. And Tony and I review intent versus impact in the wake of the recent demotion of an Air Force General for sexually harassing his subordinates.

We also have a conversation with Ron Flowers, a long-time law enforcement professional and Lead Criminal Justice Instructor at Parks College in Aurora, Colorado, on the continuing issue of racial profiling and the troubling racial inequities in our nation's criminal justice system. First, though, are headlines and links to some of the week's top stories in diversity, human relations and equal opportunity.

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights this week issued a study showing the U.S. criminal justice system continues to demonstrate an overwhelming bias against African Americans and Hispanics.

http://www.civilrights.org/publications/reports/cj/

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says discrimination charges filed against private employers fell five percent in fiscal year 2005 - the third year in a row the total number of EEOC complaints has declined.

http://www.eeoc.gov/press/2-9-06.html

Civil rights matriarch Coretta Scott King was laid to rest in Atlanta Tuesday at a funeral service attended by foreign dignitaries - three former U.S. Presidents - and current President George W. Bush - who described the dignity of Coretta Scott King as "a daily rebuke to the pettiness and cruelty of segregation."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/07/AR2006020701734.html?referrer=emailarticle

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5194745

Race riots in Los Angeles County jails claimed the life of at least one inmate and injured dozens of other this week. Los Angeles officials say the riots are an extension of street violence between African American and Hispanic gangs outside the jails.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/10/national/10prison.html?ex=1140238800&en=90d670fd5cf63ce8&ei=5070&emc=eta1

California is the only State in the Union represented by two female U.S. Senators. But that gender equity doesn't extend to the state's largest companies. That's according to a study released this week by the University of California-Davis.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/13834254.htm

An employee of supermarket giant Albertson's says management did nothing to stop ethnic hate speech when he worked at an Albertson's warehouse in Denver.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/6822862/detail.html

You may have a well-defined policy on sexual harassment in your workplace. But do you have an office policy on workplace romance? If not - you're far from alone. A study released this week by the Society for Human Resource Management and CareerJournal.com found over 70 percent of organizations have no written or verbal policy on employee dating.

http://www.shrm.org/hrnews_published/CMS_015775.asp#P-11_0

A six-year old first grade boy was suspended for three days from a Brockton, Massachusetts, elementary school this week for sexual harassment.

http://www.wcsh6.com/home/article.asp?id=31518

Whether a six-year old boy can understand the concept of sexual harassment is an open question. But U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Richard Hassan certainly should have - and apparently didn't. The Air Force announced this week Hassan - former director of the Air Force Senior Leader Management Office - will be demoted to Colonel and forced to retire in March for sexually harassing female subordinates.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/08/AR2006020802025.html?referrer=emailarticle

After months of criticism from evangelical Christian leaders and members of Congress - Air Force officials on Thursday released a second set of interim guidelines on religious expression. Religious critics say the new changes don’t go far enough to protect the freedom of chaplains to publicly demonstrate their faith. But civil libertarians say the document goes too far - and shifts the focus of the Air Force from protecting airmen from religious persecution to protecting the rights of chaplains.

http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?article=34943&section=104

House supporters of a bill to give a Congressional Gold Medal to the Tuskegee Airmen said this week they'd gotten all 291 signatures required to get the measure to the floor. The Senate already passed its version - and the bill is expected to be sent to President Bush soon.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/07/AR2006020701754_2.html?referrer=emailarticle

The Chicago Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law is suing on-line community Craigslist - accusing the company of allowing discriminatory housing ads on its site for Chicago.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/13828035.htm

The largest Spanish-language TV broadcaster in the United States - Univision - this week put itself up for sale. Univision - which reaches 98 percent of Hispanic households in America - is expected to draw offers from several major media giants.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/08/AR2006020802371.html?referrer=emailarticle

And finally - the 2006 Winter Olympic Games kicked off Friday in Torino, Italy. And this year - the U.S. Winter Olympic team will be the most ethnically diverse in history.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/08/AR2006020802302.html?referrer=emailarticle 

Diversity Chat for the week of February 4th, 2006

Download diversitychat_020406.mp3

Welcome to Diversity Chat for the week of February 4th, 2006! In this week's edition, Tony and I talk with Ron Sparks, a professional engineer and prominent official in a regional chapter of the Red Cross that played an important role in providing relief to victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We'll get his take on whether race played a role those relief efforts and his thoughts on the challenges of attracting women and minorities into science and engineering professions.

First, though, here's headlines and links to some of the week's top stories in human relations, equal opportunity and diversity.

Coretta Scott King, the matriarch of the American Civil Rights Movement and wife of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., died this week at an alternative medical clinic in Mexico of advanced ovarian cancer.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/31/AR2006013101598.html?referrer=emailarticle

While Coretta Scott King is being honored at Georgia’s state capitol – the Congressional Black Caucus said this week they had decided not to submit legislation to allow her body to lie in state at the Capitol Rotunda in Washington D.C.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/01/AR2006020102191.html

The Washington Post says Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has thrown his weight behind a bill to give a Congressional Gold Medal – the highest award given by Congress – to the Tuskegee Airmen.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/02/AR2006020202605.html?referrer=emailarticle

The Muslim world is outraged over inflammatory cartoons published in a number of European newspapers. The cartoons – among other things – depict the Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist.

http://www.24dash.com/content/news/viewNews.php?navID=7&newsID=2869

The Chairman of Harvard’s African American Studies Department - Henry Lewis Gates, Jr. – is hosting a two-part PBS documentary called "African American Lives."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/01/arts/television/01heff.html?emc=eta1 (Subscription)

By 2010 - the Bush administration wants to abolish the General Schedule – which determines pay and job classifications for federal employees.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/30/AR2006013001377.html?referrer=emailarticle

A study by University of Virginia psychologist Brian Nosek found supporters of President Bush and other conservatives had stronger self-admitted and implicit biases against African Americans than liberals did.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/29/AR2006012900642.html?referrer=emailarticle

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a decision this week tackling several important issues in sexual harassment law relating to the linkage between gender discrimination claims and retaliation claims.

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1138874714601

The federal judge for the Northern District of Illinois this week ordered Pepsi-Cola General Bottlers to pay $400,000.00 in damages - back pay and attorneys' fees - to resolve an individual case of sexual harassment and retaliation brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

http://hr.cch.com/news/employment/020206a.asp

A Minnesota jury found Thursday that race was NOT a factor in the 2004 attempted murder of an African American man who was shot outside a bar in International Falls.

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/13780642.htm