Diversity Chat

Diversity Chat for the Week of June 25th, 2006

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Welcome to Diversity Chat for the week of June 24th, 2006! This week - Tony Wade and I discuss the implications of this week's Supreme Court decision on retaliation - review the case of an Army soldier deserted rather than face sexual harassment - talk about why the public demonstrations of extremist groups tend to backfire on them - and look at why most federal government managers don't think the U.S. EEOC does much to help them with equal employment opportunity.

Plus - Tony takes us "Out or About" this week to the Society for Human Resource Management national convention in Washington D.C. And we talk with Missouri Republican Senator Jim Talent about his efforts to establish a civil rights cold case unit in the U.S. Department of Justice.

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

In a unanimous 9-to-0 ruling Thursday - the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision more clearly defining workplace retaliation. Legal analysts say the ruling broadens protections for employees who file discrimination complaints - and establishes more clear-cut guidelines on what retaliation is for employers.

Republican lawmakers from the old South this week scuttled efforts to renew the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Until the revolt of GOP hardliners - renewing the Voting Rights Act and its associated temporary provisions had enjoyed broad bi-partisan support - including the support of President Bush.

The GOP infighting over the Voting Rights Act renewal put Republican Party Chairman Ken Mehlman in a tough position during an appearance Thursday in Dallas at the annual convention of the the National Association of Latin Elected and Appointed Officials. Mehlman promised the Voting Rights Act would be renewed - but couldn't say when. Mehlman's Democratic counterpart Howard Dean also appeared at the Convention. He blasted the GOP for delaying consideration of the Voting Rights Act extension.

An obscure Department of Defense personnel instruction on discharge policies has drawn withering criticism of the DOD's treatment of gays and lesbians. The instruction classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder - and lists it along side mental retardation and diagnosable personality disorders as causes for discharge. The U.S. mental health community stopped classifying homosexuality as a mental illness over 30 years ago. Medical professionals, members of Congress and the American Psychiatric Association all condemned the DOD discharge guidance.

21 year-old Army Specialist Suzanne Swift is under arrest for desertion and is being held at Ft. Lewis, Washington after disappearing from her unit shortly before it deployed to Iraq for the second time about five months ago. Swift says she didn't want to go back to Iraq - not because of the war - but because of the pervasive and unrelenting sexual harassment she suffered from three superiors the last time she deployed to Iraq. Swift says her complaints to an Equal Opportunity Officer went nowhere.

Juneteenth celebrations took place all across the country last weekend - including one in Midland, Texas - not far from President Bush's ranch in Crawford. And at the same time many members of the community were celebrating the end of slavery in America - a local chapter of the Download diversity_chat_062506.MP3 Ku Klux Klan held an anti-immigration rally in the town square. The local Klan leader said he didn't realize a Juneteenth celebration was underway in the town. And he described his chapter as an NAACP for white people. About 25 people - including a leader of the American Nazi Party - participated in the anti-immigration rally.

A survey of government managers by the General Accountability Office finds neither the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission nor the Office of Personnel Management to be much help in advancing workplace diversity in government employment. 56 percent of managers surveyed found the EEOC to be of some, little or no help when it came to advancing equal employment opportunity. 80 percent felt the same way about OPM. The GAO report says the EEOC and OPM should do more to work together on promoting workplace diversity and equal opportunity in government employment.

Well, if you're a regular rider of New York's subway system - and you're a woman - you've probably been sexually harassed. That's the conclusion of an article in Saturday's New York Times. The Times article comes as the New York City Police Department this week announced the arrest of 13 men charged with groping and flashing women in the subways.

The U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission this week announced the Steak and Shake Company had agreed to pay 180-thousand dollars to settle a sexual harassment case filed in 2004. The case involved unwanted sexual advances toward a teenage female employee of a Steak and Shake in suburban St. Louis. The teenager complained to management - who did nothing. An attorney for the EEOC said the suit could have been avoided if managers at the restaurant had actually followed the company's posted guidance on sexual harassment.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development this week filed sexual harassment charges against 85-year old Harold Calvert for sexually harassing at least seven female tenants who rented his Richmond, Missouri properties. Kim Kendrick - HUD's Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity - says most of the alleged victims were low-income, single women who had limited opportunities to seek other housing.

Georgia's tough new immigration enforcement bill - signed into law in April - has already had a chilling effect on the state's housing market. Undocumented workers are hesitating to buy in Georgia - with some reportedly walking away from earnest money and signed contracts. Real estate analysts say what's happening in Georgia could foreshadow the impact on the nation's housing market if the U.S. adopts more stringent immigration enforcement measures.

Juan Vasquez - a civil rights activist in Clarksville, Tennessee - and his 18-year old son Thomas - were both murdered late Thursday night or early Friday morning. The elder Vasquez had helped start the Hispanic Organization for Progress and Education in Clarksville - and had served as its director. He had also worked with the NAACP Clarksville chapter and was vice chairman of the Clarksville Human Relations Commission. Police haven't yet made an arrest and aren't yet sure of the motive.

Racial profiling has become a major political issue in Orlando. City Commissioner Daisy Lynum said her son Juan has been the victim of racial profiling by city police. Orlando Police Chief Michael McCoy wrote Lynum a letter saying her allegations had hurt department morale. Orlando's mayor has backed McCoy. Lynum says McCoy's being insubordinate and looked for backing from the Central Florida Caucus of Black Local Elected Officials - which is divided. Lynum plans to hold a public forum on injustice in America this Wednesday.

Abel Castaneda got 10 years in prison Friday for his racially-motivated knife attack on Steve Lawson on a Santa Ana, California street in August of last year. Castaneda subjected Lawson - an African American - to a barrage of racial slurs before attacking him with a knife. Lawson defended himself and wrestled the knife away. Castaneda ran off and was arrested two days later.  A jury in April convicted Castaneda of a hate crime.

Diversity Chat for the Week of June 18th, 2006

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Welcome to Diversity Chat for the week of June 18th, 2006! This week, Tony Wade and I discuss the importance of renewing Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 - examine the decision to strip Louisiana Democrat William Jefferson of his seat on the House Ways and Means Committee - review federal protections for pregnant women against workplace discrimination - and take a look at the extraordinary life of James Cameron, founder of the Black Holocaust Museum.

And it's "About" this week on "Out or About" - as Rosie Tingpalpong and I discuss why creators of a Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce Multi-Ethnic Guide might have wanted to do just a little more research prior to publication.

Plus we go with a youth movement in our interview segment when we talk to Jessica Newhart - a young person with a big dream of establishing orphanages in Africa and Eastern Europe.

First, here are some of the week's top stories in human relations, equal opportunity, and diversity:

The House of Representatives this week stripped Louisiana Democrat William Jefferson of his seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee. The move comes amid an ongoing FBI bribery investigation. The Congressional Black Caucus opposed the move - pointing out Jefferson hasn't yet even been indicted, much less convicted.

But by a vote of 99 to 58 - the House Democratic Caucus endorsed a proposal by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to remove Jefferson from the Ways and Means panel. The full House did so by voice vote and without debate on Friday.

James Cameron - the founder of the Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee and himself a lynching survivor - died this week of cancer at age 92. Cameron founded the Black Holocaust Museum in 1988 after a visit to Israel's Holocaust Museum.

Among Cameron's notable achievements - an apology from the U.S. Senate last June for not opposing lynchings in America that killed more than 47-hundred people - mostly African Americans - from 1882 to 1968.

The Episcopal Church's House of Bishops this week approved a resolution calling slavery a sin - and recognizing the Church's "history and participation" in slavery. The resolution also calls on each Episcopal diocese to gather information about its complicity in slavery - including any economic benefits the diocese derived from slavery. The resolution also calls for a Day of Repentance at Washington National Cathedral.

Robert J. Smith - a member of the Washington D.C. Metro Transit Authority Board - last Sunday called gay people sexual deviants on a cable talk show. And on Thursday - Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich fired Smith - calling his comments highly inappropriate - insensitive - and unacceptable.

Smith remains unrepentant. He says - as a Roman Catholic - he views homosexual behavior as deviant. Smith also says his personal views on gays have - in his words - "absolutely nothing to do with running trains and buses..."

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 doesn't ever expire - but some so-called temporary provisions of the measure will next year unless Congress acts. And that includes a provision aimed at keeping state and local governments from coming up with inventive new ways of blocking minorities from voting.

Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act requires state and local governments with a history of voting discrimination to gain Justice Department approval before changing election procedures.
In North Carolina alone - two-thirds of such potential changes reviewed by Justice since 1982 were ruled illegal on the grounds the changes would have had a discriminatory effect on voting rights.

Colorado's State Supreme Court this week invalidated a proposed November ballot initiative that would have asked the state's voters to deny public services to undocumented immigrants. The Court ruled the ballot initiative dealt with more than a single subject in violation of Colorado's constitution.

Supporters of the ballot initiative vowed to keep circulating petitions in hopes the Court might change its mind before November. Immigrant rights supporters hailed the Court's decision.

A small sign at a Philadelphia cheese steak shop called Geno's Steaks is making big news. Geno's owner Joey Vento put up a sign at the restaurant about six months ago as the immigration debate heated up. The sign declares "this is America" - and directs restaurant patrons to order in English.

Both the Philadelphia Human Relations Commission and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission have condemned the sign. The city's Commission filed a complaint this week claiming the sign violates Philadelphia's Fair Practices Act - which bars public accommodations from discriminating on the basis of national origin or race. Vento says he's simply making a political statement protected by the First Amendment.

Do pregnant workers enjoy sufficient federal protections from discrimination based on their pregnancy? Hofstra law professor Joanna Grossman says no. Grossman says protections afforded to pregnant employees by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978 and Family and Medical and Leave Act of 1993 - particularly in light of a recent ruling by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals - simply aren't adequate.

According to Grossman - even with those two important federal laws on the books - pregnant women often find it difficult to successfully combine working and reproduction.

Keane Incorporated - an information technology firm - announced this week it's settling a sexual harassment complaint filed by Georgina Fisk - it's vice president of marketing - for 1.14-million dollars. As part of the settlement - Fisk will resign at the end of the month.

Fisk's charges involve Brian Keane - the company's former president and CEO. He initially called Fisk's allegations "utterly baseless and false" - then admitted his own conduct "reflected poor judgment" just two days later. Keane remains a 26-thousand dollar per month consultant for the company.

The Florida Highway Patrol this week fired Major Rebecca Tharpe - its top-ranking female officer and a 26-year veteran of the FHP. In a six-page memo that accompanied the dismissal - FHP Director Colonel Christopher Knight cited Tharpe's weak leadership - management failures - and insubordination. But Knight also acknowledged in the memo that Tharpe would file a gender discrimination lawsuit in the wake of her dismissal.

A lawyer for Tharpe called that statement "bizarre" - and said it amounts to an admission that the FHP is firing Tharpe in retaliation for her voicing concerns about gender discrimination. The lawyer also said Tharpe is considering all her legal options.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is suing the owners of the North Park Clubhouse - a suburban Pittsburgh sports bar - for sexually harassing a 19-year-old former employee.

The EEOC lawsuit says during a golf outing last August - an owner of the bar wrote the word "Tips" on the woman's chest and a bar manager untied the woman's bikini top. An attorney for the North Park Clubhouse doesn't deny the allegations - but says the female employee consented to the behavior.

Charles Beyer - the personal assistant of Liza Minnelli's estranged husband David Gest - this week filed a 300-thousand dollar sexual harassment lawsuit against Gest. The suit alleges unwelcome physical and verbal sexual harassment by Gest since Beyer became his personal assistant last July.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission this week presented it's second annual "Freedom to Compete" awards to seven public and private sector employers. An EEOC press release says the awards are given to employers who implement practices that promote access and inclusion.

Among this year's winners - McDonald's Corporation and the Department of Defense.

Global ad agencies are holding Advertising Week in New York City during the week of September 25th - and that's the same week the New York City Commission on Human Rights has decided to hold hearings on how the ad industry hires, retains and promotes minority employees. A Commission spokesman declined to say if the scheduling juxtaposition is a coincidence.

New York City's Human Rights Commission has subpoenaed 16 senior ad agency executives to testify at the hearings. Ad industry execs have publicly stated they want to increase minority hiring. But critics say little actual progress has really been made on diversity in the staffs of advertising agencies.

The New York City Council this week changed its sexual harassment policy. The Council's policy now requires victims of sexual harassment to file a formal complaint - and also requires Council members to report inappropriate sexually oriented behavior. The new policy also prohibits reprisal against those reporting allegations of sexual harassment.

A former member of the Latino student club known in Spanish as Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán - that's the Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan in English - says the group isn't an extremist organization. Gustavo Arellano - writing in a Los Angles Time Op-Ed piece - says the group is all about Latino pride.

Arellano admits the group's founding documents call for a separate Chicano homeland. But he says few students who participate in the group - known by its Spanish initials as MEChA for short - know or care about MEChA's ideology. He says the group's primary objectives aren't secessionist - but educational. And it may be worth noting that the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project doesn't list MEChA on its list of extremist organizations.

Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin - the architect of the Americans with Disabilities Act - is holding a field hearing in Ames, Iowa next month to explore the barriers facing people with intellectual disabilities. The hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Labor, Health and Human Services, and Related Agencies will be held in conjunction with the kick-off of the 2006 Special Olympics USA National Games which begin July 2nd in Ames. Harkin is the Honorary Chairman of those games.

The Red Cross International Tracing Service - which controls 50-million documents on some 17.5-million persons imprisoned and/or murdered in Nazi concentration and death camps - is expected to open its archives later this year. The move came after the 11-nation commission overseeing the Tracing Service relented to years of requests by Holocaust survivors and Jewish organizations.

Countries with strict privacy laws - including Germany - have resisted opening the Tracing Service's Holocaust archives. Opponents argue much of the information in the archives is incomplete - or may be distorted by Nazi lies. But supporters of greater access to the Nazi records will help families still seeking the learn the fates of their loved ones - and will provide a more clear historical picture of the Holocaust.

Eve Ensler - the writer of the oft-performed Vagina Monologues - has put together a large-scale arts festival focused on addressing and preventing violence toward women. Ensler's arts festival is going on this weekend in New York City and continues over the next two weeks. Among those participating in just one of the festival's 50 events - Jane Fonda and Kathy Bates.

The Vagina Monologues has transformed sits it debuted as an off-Broadway play in 1996 into a non-profit charity known as V-Day that's raised 35-million dollars for programs aimed at ending violence.

Bill Lester - the only African-American driver to qualify and race in a Nextel Cup NASCAR race this year - and only the sixth African American ever to do so - has done so again. He'll race in Sunday's 3M Performance 400 at the Michigan International Speedway.

But 16-year old Chase Austin may never have that chance - despite impressive credentials as a young racing prodigy. Just two years ago - Austin - billed as auto racing's Tiger Woods - signed a developmental deal with racing powerhouse Hendrick Motorsports. But Hendrick ended its developmental program this year. Now Austin and his family are selling tools and equipment to continue racing.

And finally...

When Tiger Woods won his first major golf championship over nine years ago - many sports analysts predicted it would usher in a new era of prominence for African-American golfers on the PGA tour. But that hasn't happened. In fact - there are now fewer African-American golfers with PGA tour cards than there were in the late 1970s. And there won't be any African-American golfers in the final rounds of the U.S. Open this weekend. Tiger Woods missed the cut at a major tournament for the first time in his pro career.

Diversity Chat for the Week of June 11th, 2006

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Welcome to Diversity Chat for the Week of June 11th, 2006! This week, Tony Wade and I focus on the 2006 Mountain Region Black Economic Summit & Expo in Denver, Colorado. Tony we'll give us an overview of the event from the Summit itself in our "Out of About" segment. And We'll have a conversation with Denver Black Pages President and Summit Organizer Carla Ladd about what steps are necessary to improve opportunities for minority owned businesses - and how the Summit fits in.

First, here are some of the week's top stories in human relations, equal opportunity and diversity:

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to re-visit affirmative action in education - this time using cases involving public elementary and high schools in Seattle and Louisville, Kentucky. In both cases - lower courts have upheld the affirmative action policies of the public schools involved.

The lower courts both cited the Supreme Court's 2003 decision in the case of Grutter v. Bollinger - when the High Court ruled in favor of affirmative action at the college and university level. But the key swing vote in that case - Sandra Day O'Connor - who authored the opinion of the five-to-four majority -  has since retired. She's been replaced by conservative Samuel Alito, Jr. - who many believe is a strong opponent of affirmative action programs.

President Bush continued to make the case for a middle ground on immigration reform this week during appearances in Texas, New Mexico, Nebraska and Washington D.C. During the Nebraska visit - President Bush described assimilation as the key to success for immigrants. And during an address Thursday to the National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. - the President said forcing millions of undocumented workers to return to their native countries "ain't gonna work."

Two members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are planning a June 30th wedding in Nova Scotia. Both plan to be in uniform and have an escort of uniformed Mounties at the ceremony. The happy couple are Jason Tree and David Connors - the first two male Mounties to marry.

Tree and Connors join thousands of other same-sex couples who are getting married in Canada. Ontario's highest court ruled same-sex couples could not be denied marriage in 2003. Courts in other provinces followed suit. In July of 2005 - Canada's Parliament acknowledged the judicial momentum and narrowly approved same-sex marriages throughout the country.

As expected - President Bush renewed his call this week for Congress to approve a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage - though he never mentioned gays or lesbians specifically in his remarks. The President said Congress should amend the constitution to keep the judicial system from redefining marriage.

Also as expected - and after sometimes heated debate - Senators failed to come up with the votes necessary to end debate on the proposed amendment banning gay marriage. 49 senators voted to end debate - far less than the 60 required to invoke cloture - and even further away than the 67 votes needed to approve a constitutional amendment.

Americans are less willing to provide extended government assistance to African American and other minority victims of Hurricane Katrina than they are to whites. And that's especially true if the victims are darker-skinned.

That's the conclusion of a study conducted by The Washington Post and the Stanford University Political Communication Lab - which studied the responses of 23-hundred individuals who received stories about a fictional victim named Terry Miller. A picture accompanying the study depicted Terry Miller as one of several racial or gender configurations - which appeared to influence the amount of aid readers thought the victim should receive - and for how long they should receive it.

A hospice care agency in Lumberton, North Carolina, violated the civil rights of an employee by requiring her to attend a so-called prayer circle - and then firing her when she objected and refused to attend. That's the allegation of a lawsuit filed this month by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The EEOC is seeking back pay, compensatory and punitive damages, and injunctive relief on behalf of Dorene Sampson, a registered nurse who worked for the hospice care agency. The agency allegedly fired Sampson - a Jehovah's Witness - in March of 2005 after she refused to attend the mandatory prayer circle.

The total payments made as part of the 2002 settlement for a class-action pregnancy discrimination lawsuit will total almost 49-million dollars to over 12-thousand current and former female employees of the predecessor companies that now make up Verizon.

That's according to a filing this week in the U.S. District Court of New York by the U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission - which just completed its projections of how much will be paid in future benefits. The new figures make the case the largest pregnancy discrimination settlement in U.S. history.

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals last month dismissed a male employee's claim of sexual harassment - ruling the claim insufficient to establish a hostile work environment. That - despite Kevin Nitsche's allegation that he was subjected to unwanted sexual banter from his supervisor throughout his 20 years of employment with Osage Valley Electric Cooperative.

The court found that - because Nitsche's supervisor didn't have authority to fire him, reduce his salary or control his hours - Nitsche failed "to raise a genuine issue of fact regarding whether the harassment affected a term, condition, or privilege of employment."

A New York jury found Nicholas Minucci guilty of a racial hate crime in the 2005 beating of Glenn Moore. The trial focused upon Minucci's use of a vile racial epithet while beating Moore over the head with a baseball bat. Minucci faces up to 25 years in prison when he's sentenced on July 15th. Because the jury found him guilty of a hate crime - his minimum sentence increased from five to eight years.

A study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association says young African American women with breast cancer are more likely to have what's known as a "basal like" tumor - which is more often fatal and tougher to treat than other types of breast cancer.

The study helps explain why African American women under 50 are much more likely to die from breast cancer than older African American women or white women. The breast cancer death rate in is 11 per 100-thousand among African Americans compared with only 6.3 per 100-thousand in whites.

If you haven't yet visited the United States National Slavery Museum - that's only because it hasn't been built yet. But former Virgina Governor Douglas Wilder says it will be - and he's been busy raising the 200-million dollars needed to build it. He says he's about a quarter of the way to his goal. And Wilder says the museum's theme will be reconciliation - not recrimination.

Wilder hosted a high-profile fundraiser last week for the museum - which is to be built in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Among those attending last week's gala - Bill Cosby - who has already contributed a million dollars toward the effort.

The children of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are putting the archives of the slain civil rights leader for sale at auction. Sotheby's will conduct the sale. They hope to sell the seven-thousand items - many written in Dr. King's own hand - to a library or university for between 15 and 30-million dollars.

A survey conducted by the Washington Post, Harvard, and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation finds African American men have conflicting views about society's attitude toward them - and their role in society.

The survey asked questions of over 28-hundred people - over 13-hundred of which were African American men. Among its key findings - six in 10 African American men said they're more to blame for their life problems than "what white people of have done to blacks." But half said they had been treated unfairly by police at some point in their lives - and more than half said the U.S. economic system is stacked against them.

60 percent of African American respondents said it's a good time to be a black man in the United States. But 60 percent also said they are often the targets of racial slights or insults. 66 percent said they believe courts are more likely to convict African American men than whites - and 25 percent said they've been physically threatened or attacked because of their race.

Wal-Mart Chief Executive Lee Scott last week met with Martha Burk - an activist for gender equity and a Director for the National Council on Women's Organizations - and Robin Leeds a Director of the Responsible Wealth project. The meeting came a day before Wal-Mart shareholders rejected a shareholder resolution advanced by Burk that would have required Wal-Mart to issue a detailed break down its compensation by race and gender.

Analysts say the meeting signals a willingness on the part of Wal-Mart's leadership to address pay equity issues - and is a part of the ongoing effort by the world's largest retailer to clean up its public image.

The Senate this week blocked what's become an annual effort by Hawaii Democrat Daniel Akaka to grant native Hawaiians the ability to form a tribal government akin to those of American Indians and Alaskans.
   
The so-called Akaka bill got 56 votes in favor of ending debate and moving to a final vote - four short of the 60 required. Akaka says there's no question native Hawaiians are an indigenous people deserving the same sort of federal recognition conferred on native Alaskans and American Indians. But some native Hawaiians are leery of the measure - citing the many problems American Indians and Alaskans have suffered despite federal recognition.

About 200 people - many of them American Indians of the Ogalala Sioux tribe from the Pine Ridge Reservation - rode by horseback from Nebraska to South Dakota last week to honor military veterans and iconic Native American leader and warrior Crazy Horse.

One participant in the 9th Annual Crazy Horse Ride described the event as a way to say thank you to the warrior culture of American Indians.

The gender discrimination case of a Delaware State Police captain is being tried in state court. Captain Barbara Conley filed suit after two men were promoted to major in 2003, while she was passed over for promotion. Conley also says she has been subjected to inappropriate sexual behavior since she joined the State Police - but has been reluctant to report it out of fear of reprisal.

San Mateo County in southern California is hiring a retired state Supreme Court justice to conduct a probe into charges of sexual harassment against County Coroner Robert Focrault. Those charges include an allegation that Focrault dropped his pants and mooned two male staff members. An investigation in September 2005 concluded Focrault had initiated and permitted sexually oriented behavior that violated county policies.

In a case involving the sexual harassment of a nurse by a patient in 1996  - the California Supreme Court this week erased the time limit for when employers are liable for failing to protect workers from third-party sexual harassment. The court said employer liability to protect workers from such harassment includes incidents before 2003. The ruling is seen as especially significant to health-care workers - who often have few options for avoiding perpetrators who are also entrusted to their care.

Cheryl Oldham this week filed a sexual harassment and age discrimination lawsuit against Larry Flynt - publisher of Hustler. Among several allegations - Oldham claims her work was frequently disrupted by sounds of Flynt having sex with prostitutes in his office.

Denny's - the restaurant chain that settled a class-action race discrimination lawsuit for 54-million dollars in 1994 - is again facing charges of racial discrimination - this time from a franchisee. YPSI Corporation - an African American-owned restaurant management company in Michigan - filed a lawsuit this week claiming Denny's routinely places franchisees owned by people of color in underperforming locations while giving more favorable locations to white owners. Denny's denies the charge.

An African-centered primary school in Kansas City is notching impressive results in student achievement schools - and education officials from as far away as Brazil and Japan are taking note. The J.S. Chick elementary school began an African-centered approach to education in 1991. Everything from the curriculum to the interactions between teachers and parents at the school is based on the history and culture of Africa and its diaspora.

The approach has worked for students of J.S. Chick. On the Missouri Assessment Program fourth-grade math test in 2005 - 48 percent of Chick students scored at the proficient or advanced level. Statewide - only 24 percent of African American students and 36 percent of white students scored that high.

About 25 percent of the construction workers rebuilding New Orleans are illegal immigrants. And they're getting lower pay - less medical care - and less safety equipment than legal workers. That's the conclusion of a new study of 200 such workers by Tulane University and the University of California at Berkeley.

Few of the undocumented  workers reported run-ins with the police. But their employers sometimes threatened to have them deported if they complained about missing pay or dangerous working conditions. The study also found that the Latino population of New Orleans has doubled since Hurricane Katrina - largely due to the influx of workers who are rebuilding the city.

The National Basketball Association and CareerBuilder.com are partnering on initiatives to promote diversity in recruitment among employers and career development for young people. The public faces of the effort are being called the "Legends in Business" team. They include former NBA all-stars Dave Bing - Clyde Drexler - Julius Erving - Jamal Mashburn - and Dominique Wilkins - each chosen for his success in business after basketball.

And finally...

Teenage golf phenom Michelle Wie played well - but missed the cut for a spot the U.S. Open golf tournament by five shots. Wie says she's not abandoning her dream of one day playing on the PGA Tour and will keep entering men's events. Wie points out there's no "men" in the title of the Professional Golf Association.

Diversity Chat for the Week of June 4th, 2006

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Welcome to Diversity Chat for the week of June 3rd, 2006! This week, Tony Wade and I discuss the lingering impact of the racial violence in the late 19th and early 20th Century that signaled the advent of the Jim Crow era in the American South - review a recent survey that suggests businesses should pay attention to the needs of their disabled customers and those that care for them - and find out why organizations sometimes really do simply pay-up to make discrimination cases go away.

And we go "Out or About" this week to an icon of American immigration - New York's Ellis Island. Plus, we'll talk with Giovanna Carnet - an Air National Guard military equal opportunity professional who own and runs an interpreting business in Sioux City, Iowa - about the challenges of running that service in a region with rapidly shifting demographics.

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

A state-appointed commission this week said North Carolina should compensate victims of brutal racial violence in Wilmington back 1898 - calling the incident America's only recorded coup d'etat. White perpetrators of the Wilmington assault killed dozens - overthrew the elected government - seized land and other assets from African Americans - and ushered in the Jim Crow era across what had once been the Confederacy. It also served as a template for similar pogroms against African Americans in Georgia in 1906 - Oklahoma in 1921 - and Florida in 1923.

President Bush on Thursday kicked off a public campaign for an immigration reform bill that balances security with fair treatment for undocumented workers. In a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce - Bush denied the Senate's pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants amounts to amnesty. And he called for bigger fines on employers who knowingly hire workers who are in the country illegally.

In related news - a Congressional Budget Office report says the Senate version of immigration reform would add 20 million legal immigrants to the U.S. population over the next decade - at a cost of some 50-billion dollars in increased government program expenses. But the report says those costs would be offset by 66-billion dollars in increased federal revenue from the taxes legal immigrants would generate.

Anti-immigration activists this week unveiled two giant billboards in Denver criticizing a 1998 executive order by then-Mayor Wellington Webb that's still on the books.

The executive order praises diversity - welcomes the foreign born to Denver - and promises to deliver city services to all who live there. Critics say that makes Denver a "sanctuary city" for undocumented immigrants. But the executive order actually only mentions legal immigrants.

Many may differ in their approach to immigration reform - but few would argue that many undocumented immigrants come from Mexico. And few would argue that many of those are unskilled or semi-skilled workers. Some have argued that such workers should get in line for a legal permit to work in America. But a New York Times article this week points out there's not much of a line to get into. Under current U.S. immigration law - only five-thousand work permits are issued each year for unskilled laborers from any country. Last year - just two of those five-thousand work permits went to Mexican citizens.

A federal judge in Arizona this week ruled Alamo Car Rental discriminated against Bilan Nur on the basis of her religion in December of 2001. Alamo disciplined and then fired Nur after she refused to remove her head covering during Ramadan that year - though the company allowed her to wear the garment during Ramadan in 1999 and 2000. The U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission filed suit in September of 2002 on Nur's behalf. The judge found the facts of the case so compelling - she opted to make the decision herself rather than sending the case to a jury trial.

Meanwhile, a jury in California's state court system this week awarded over 61-million dollars in punitive and compensatory damages to two Arab-American drivers for FedEx. The jury found Edgar Rizkallah and Kamil Issa - both of Lebanese descent - were forced to work in a hostile environment based on their race and national origin. The manager of the men reportedly taunted them with a wide variety of ethnic slurs - including calling them terrorists. FedEx is expected to appeal the verdict.

Insurance giant Allstate this week said it had settled a class action lawsuit brought on behalf of all its African American and Hispanic customers. At issue - whether Allstate systemically charged those minorities higher insurance premiums by determining prices on information from credit reports.

Allstate officials say they're not admitting anything by settling the suit. Attorneys for the plaintiffs call the settlement a major legal victory for African Americans and Hispanics. As part of the settlement - Allstate will change how it determines premiums and institute an appeals system for premium increases.

A lumber company in Allentown, Pennsylvania - meanwhile - has agreed to pay 3.1-million dollars to settle a case brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In that case - the owners of Eastern Engineered Wood Products allegedly fired the company's president - Verne Orth - after he confirmed a sexual harassment complaint brought by company vice president L. Jarrod Renninger.

Renninger claimed he'd been sexually harassed by Steve Colson - one of the company's owners. An attorney for the company denies all the allegations.

Wal-Mart has agreed to settle two separate sexual harassment cases brought by the EEOC for 315-thousand dollars. The cases involved separate employees and separate managers at the same central Florida store. The EEOC initiated one of the cases in August of 2004 - the other in February of 2005.

And in Charleston, West Virginia - two women filed separate lawsuits alleging sexual harassment this week. Amanda Chafin says Jimmy Vance - her supervisor at the state Regional Jail Authority - subjected her to inappropriate sexual remarks - physical contact and physical advances when she worked as a corrections officer. And Rita Aliff is suing Greg Lavender and the corporate parent of Motel 6. Aliff admits having sex with Lavender - but says he fired her for filing a workman's comp claim after she stopped giving in to his repeated requests for sex at work.

The city of Bristol, Connecticut will spend 150-thousand dollars in contingency funds to provide diversity education to its police force. The move comes in the wake of allegations city police officers used racial slurs while broadcasting on low-power local radio station. Those allegations were never proved - But Bristol Mayor William Stortz says he wants to move quickly to put the diversity training program in place.

The disabled and those that care for them have more economic and political clout than ever before. That's the conclusion of a first-of-its-kind survey of members of the American Association of People with Disabilities. The survey found roughly three-quarters of AAPD members earn income - own a computer with access to the Internet - are registered to vote - and significantly - make buying decisions based on companies' support for the disabled.

The Justice Department filed suit in federal court against the District of Columbia this week. The suit alleges 14 mentally disabled wards of the District suffered "preventable and questionable" deaths since January 2003. The Justice Department - and University Legal Services, which represents the mentally disabled plaintiffs - want the court to take over the District of Columbia's Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration - which cares for over two-thousand mentally disabled patients.

President Bush used his weekly radio address Saturday to express support for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. He's expected to make a speech on the same topic in Washington D.C. Monday - the same day the Senate is expected to begin debate on a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

Most political analysts believe the emphasis by the GOP on the issue is aimed at energizing the party's conservative base ahead of the November Congressional elections. But Republicans may not have as much success with that approach as they did in 2004. A poll by the Pew Center in March found just 51 percent of Americans opposed same-sex marriage - down 12 percent from two years earlier.

The Advocate - a magazine aimed at gays and lesbians - had a glowing cover story recently on the upcoming summer movie "Superman Returns." But movie marketing experts say the gay buzz over the movie may pose as much of a marketing challenge as an opportunity. The film is aimed at 18 to 34 year old males - some of whom might shy away from a film perceived as popular with the gay community.

Speaking of superheroes - Batwoman is returning to DC Comics after a 27-year hiatus. And this time, she's a lesbian. It's all part of a move by both DC and rival Marvel Comics to create comic book characters reflecting the increased diversity of their readers.

Cell phone companies are reportedly paying extra marketing attention to Hispanics. Marketing execs for the companies say Hispanics make ideal cellphone customers because they're one of the nation's fastest growing demographic groups - often have families that cross international borders - tend to be younger and less likely to have landlines - and are more likely to buy data services on cellphones.

Debbie Driscol - a volunteer outreach coordinator for the city of Mesa, Arizona - quit her job last month a year after complaining of racial discrimination in the workplace at the hands of Lisha Garcia - one of the city's highest-ranking Latino officials. An outside investigator substantiated some of Driscol's allegations. Others remain outstanding. Garcia remains on the job.

Elizabeth Vargas - who replaced Peter Jennings as anchor of ABC's World News Tonight - resigned last month after announcing she and her husband are expecting their second child. Vargas was the first solo female anchor of a major network newscast. But viewership of World News Tonight has plummeted since Jennings' death. ABC denies Vargas is being forced out due to low ratings - or because of her pregnancy. Vargas herself says her decision is purely personal.

The Dallas Area Rapid Transit paid Ken Mercer - its former vice president of contracting - a severance package worth over 60-thousand dollars to avoid litigation over a potential claim of age discrimination.

The 60-year old Mercer lost his job at DART after a supervisor wrote a memo to senior executives detailing specific allegations of sexual harassment by Mercer. DART says it decided to pay Mercer a settlement because the agency could not predict success if he filed an age discrimination lawsuit.

A sexual harassment and assault case involving civilian employees at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia may be settled - but the repercussions of the case remain ongoing. Sharon Peacock - a procurement clerk, claimed she endured sexual assault and abuse by Mark Ferris - her boss - for over two years.

Ferris ultimately pleaded guilty to assault and spent six months in jail. But Ferris says Peacock wasn't without sin. He says she was the sexual aggressor - that he regrets pleading guilty - and that his life and reputation has been destroyed.

Peacock has been at home on workman's compensation for the last few months on the advice of her doctor. She says the sexual harassment and assault caused at least some of her physical problems - and she's continuing to pursue legal action against the base. Peacock says base officials failed to aggressively address her complaints when she filed them. Base officials say they handled Peacock's case appropriately.

One Metro Emergency Medical Services employee in Louisville, Kentucky lost his job - and another got a 29-day suspension - for using disparaging racial terms and stereotypes against a Latino patient they were treating during an ambulance run. The men reportedly used the disparaging terms in conversation between themselves and toward the patient directly during the ambulance run. One reportedly said he "...hated f^%$# Mexicans..."

Todd Parrott got fired - while Chris Seelye drew the suspension. There's no word on why Seelye got to keep his job. Both men had worked for Metro EMS for seven years.

And finally...

Organizers of the quadrennial FIFA soccer world cup are worried racial incidents could mar what is arguably the world's most popular sporting event. FIFA officials note a recent uptick in discrimination toward black players from Africa and Latin America by fans and other players alike. That's why FIFA has placed discriminatory behavior on the agenda of its biennial Congress - which starts this week. And FIFA is threatening to sanction clubs whose fans or players display overt discrimination during the world cup. Ironically - the theme of this year's World Cup is "A Time to Make Friends."