Diversity Chat

Diversity Chat for the Week of August 27th, 2006

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(This may take a few moments, but as always, it's worth the wait!)

Welcome to Diversity Chat for the week of August 27th, 2006! This week, Tony Wade and I discuss the wisdom of organizing TV shows along racial lines – review a new court ruling that will make it harder for discriminators to focus on the immigration status of their victims – take a look a new wave of racial profiling in the wake of this month’s foiled terrorist plot involving flights from Britain to the U.S. – and talk about a Utah state senator who says the Supreme Court decision that desegregated public schools more than 50 years ago leaves much to be desired.

And we go "About" this week on "Out or About" to an in-depth look at this week's appalling comments about race by the nation's most popular radio bigot, Rush Limbaugh.

We’ll take a more uplifting tack in our interview segment, when we'll hear from a courageous young cancer survivor, Missy Harbison.

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

The popular CBS TV reality series "Survivor" will initially divide its contestants this season into four tribes based on race. The 20 contestants will initially be placed into either the white tribe, the Hispanic tribe, the Asian tribe or the African-American tribe.

Popular radio personality Rush Limbaugh this week predicted someone from the Hispanic tribe will win the competition based on their ability to cross borders. He also offered an assessment of each tribe’s chances for victory based on racial stereotypes.

According to the Council on American Islamic Relations, hundreds of Arab Americans returning from overseas flights on August 15th were detained for extensive questioning and searches at New York's JFK airport. A report from New York TV station Channel 1 says Arwa Ibrahim, her sister and their mother were returning from a trip to Jordan when they were detained. They say Homeland Security and Customs officers took their U.S. passports and held them for about six hours.

A 1999 court order that forced New Jersey state police to end the practice of racial profiling may be terminated by the court in the months ahead, but New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine wants to make sure state police don't return to racial profiling when the court order ends. That's why he signed an order this week creating the Advisory Committee on Police Standards. The committee is to make its recommendations no later than the end of December.

The winner of the 2006 NAACP Image Award says this week in a Newsweek article that, one year after Hurricane Katrina, "New Orleans remains a shameful symbol of the Bush administration’s neglect and its antigovernment philosophy." Michael Eric Dyson, who's also a University of Pennsylvania professor, says despite promises from President Bush, the status of poor African Americans has "has barely changed since Katrina struck."

President Bush in his weekly radio address repeated his promises to help the poor made a year ago, and said the federal government is keeping them. Bush says he and his wife Laura will return to Mississippi this week for a visit aimed at highlighting the federal government's continued response to Hurricane Katrina.

Senior NPR correspondent Juan Williamson is calling on the African American community to refocus on family and education in its efforts to change what he calls the "culture of failure" that is "poisoning" young African Americans. Williams, writing in the Washington Post, says young African Americans' "search for identity and a sense of direction is undermined by a twisted popular culture that focuses on the 'bling-bling'..."

Kathy Culbertson - the principal of Everman High School, which is just south of Ft. Worth, Texas, is being asked by parents to resign. That, following comments she made over the school loudspeaker indicating the school's overall ranking on a state standardized test would have been better if scores hadn't been dragged down by Africa American students. At a school board meeting this past week, Culbertson offered no comment on her remarks.

Meanwhile, Delores Davis, a school bus driver for the Red River School District in Louisiana, reportedly forced a group of nine African American children to sit at the back of the bus. Parents of the children are outraged. The Red River School Board responded by sending an African American bus driver to pick up the children. The employment status of Davis remains uncertain. The NAACP is said to be considering filing a formal charge with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Utah State Senator Chris Buttars says he doesn't think Brown vs. Board of Education was universally positive, but that doesn't make him a racist. Buttars, speaking on Utah radio station KCPW, says what he doesn't like about the seminal 1954 Supreme Court decision ordering school desegregation is that "it broke up the educational system that was designed to maximize the number of minority kids in many schools in the South."

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission this week announced it had won another federal court ruling sharply limiting the ability of employers sued for discrimination to make an issue of the victims’ immigration status. The U.S. District Court for Minnesota ruled immigration status is "usually not relevant to the issue of whether the employer discriminated" and said allowing employers to focus on the immigration status of complainants would have "an unacceptable chilling effect on the bringing of civil rights actions..."

The EEOC this week also won a $1.2 million settlement from the Stillwater School District in Minnesota in a case involving age discrimination. The case stems from an earlier practice by many Minnesota school districts of reducing early retirement incentives to teachers as they got older. The settlement wraps up the last of 12 such cases the EEOC brought against Minnesota school districts over the age-related practice.

And the EEOC also filed suit this week against New York-based RAK Industries for sexual harassment. The EEOC says RAK subjected female employees to a range of sexually harassing behavior and did nothing after female employees complained.

The National Fair Housing Alliance says it's filing a complaint with the Justice Department after its undercover testers were subjected to racial steering by Coldwell Banker real estate agents in Chicago. The parent company of Coldwell Banker said it's seen no evidence to support the allegations of racial steering.

It may be the biggest jury award in a disability discrimination lawsuit in Maine history. A U.S. District Court jury in Bangor this week decided the Cianbro Corporation must pay 59-year old Ronald Harding $747,000 in back pay and damages. In 2002, Cianbro fired Harding, who had worked for the company for 18 years, because he had fibromyalgia, a chronic and severe disorder of the muscles and joints. A company spokesman denied Harding's health had anything to do with the company's decision to fire him.

A growing number of employers are reportedly joining a federal program known as Basic Pilot, an effort to make sure the people employers hire are authorized to be in the United States. The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports more than 10,700 employers have signed up to participate in the program, double the number of a year ago. Still, that figure represents just a tiny fraction of the nation's estimated seven million employers.

The House Judiciary Committee held the latest in its series of field hearings on immigration reform this week, this one in New Hampshire. Five invited witnesses gave testimony. Only John Young, co-chairman of the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform, testified in favor of the Senate immigration bill, a measure that would provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented workers.

Police in Kissimmee, Florida, are searching for two men who took turns beating 22-year old David Romon while yelling racial slurs, then left him on the side of a road to die. Romon survived, but will need reconstructive surgery on his face. Romon's attackers reportedly robbed him of the $1.50 in his possession, then screamed they "hate Puerto Ricans because you don't have any money on you" while punching and kicking Romon.

24-year old Thomas Paul Twigg pleaded guilty this week in Fredericksburg, Maryland, to charges of to racial harassment and assault charges. The plea stemmed from an incident earlier this year in which Twigg hurled racial insults, bottles and death threats at an African American motorist.
Twigg apologized at his sentencing hearing, said he isn't a racist and blamed his behavior on alcoholism.

Jarreau Francis, an African American police officer from Cheltenham, Pennsylvania, was beaten by three white men while vacationing in Sea City Isle, New Jersey. The attackers made racial slurs and threats to Francis, who was walking with two white off-duty Cheltenham police officers, and an altercation ensued, according to police. Francis was struck in the head with a baseball bat, and a second officer was struck trying to assist his friend. The assailants were arrested shortly after the incident.

And finally…

The best known rapper in America, Snoop Dog, is calling on the African American and Hispanic communities to unite and end months of violence between them in Los Angeles. Snoop's new single "Vato" features Latino rapper B. Real. He says he hopes the video will promote friendship between African Americans and Hispanics.

Diversity Chat for the Week of August 20th, 2006

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(This may take a few moments, but as always, it's well worth the wait!)

Welcome to Diversity Chat for the Week of August 20th, 2006! This week, Tony Wade and I discuss the controversial comments of former United Nations and Wal-Mart Ambassador Andrew Young – discuss a recent rash of racially insensitive comments by public and political figures – take a look at yet more evidence backing the business case for diversity – and see whether or not an instant dismissal policy is ever a good thing, even if it involves sexual misconduct or sexual harassment.

Plus we go “Out or About” to learn more about a secondary dimension of diversity – introversion versus extroversion.

And in our interview segment, we’ll talk with Phaedra Marriott, Miss Wheelchair Missouri, about why she chose to enter the competition, and her unique approach to breaking down barriers between persons who are able-bodied, and people with disabilities.

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

Civil rights leader Andrew Young resigned from a Wal-Mart advisory board last week after a firestorm erupted about his comments indicating Jewish, Korean and Arab shopkeepers "ripped off" African-American communities and should be displaced by Wal-Mart. The Anti-Defamation League called Young's remarks offensive, hurtful and shameful.

And Virginia GOP Senator George Allen has faced withering criticism this week after repeatedly calling an Asian American operative from his competitor’s campaign “Macaca” - a monkey native to Asia. Allen says he didn't know what the word meant.

Florida GOP candidate Tramm Hudson set off a firestorm of his own when he commented that African Americans aren't good swimmers in remarks to a local chapter of the Christian Coalition. Hudson quickly mobilized African American supporters who said his remarks were out of character.

Meanwhile - figures out from the U.S. Census Bureau this week show every state in the Union but one is growing more racially and ethnically diverse. The Census Bureau data show minority groups make up an increasing share of the population in every state - except West Virginia.

A new study from the University of Illinois at Chicago shows racial diversity in a company's workforce leads to improved business performance and volume.

The study found racial diversity dramatically improved financial performance - even when controlling for factors like a firm's legal form of organization, gender composition, size, age, type of work and region.

The U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission is going on a hiring spree. Outgoing EEOC Chair Cari Dominguez announced last week the agency will hire 70 new staff for front-line field office positions. Dominguez calls it "the most extensive one-time hiring of field staff during the five years of her tenure at the agency."

New York GOP Congressman Peter King - Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee - endorsed racial profiling of "Middle Eastern and South Asian" people by airport screeners. King says all Muslims aren't terrorists, but all recent terrorists have been Muslim. Law enforcement experts say racial profiling - by itself - isn't an effective tool in fighting crime.

The Democratic National Committee last week reportedly turned down a proposal by the DNC’s Gay & Lesbian Americans Caucus to add gays to the party’s affirmative action rules for selecting delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. 

But the DNC did agree to create a new inclusion section in the party’s delegate selection rules recognizing the LGBT community and people with disabilities as underrepresented groups within the Democratic Party. Rick Stafford - Chair of the DNC's Gay & Lesbian Americans Caucus - called the new rule "really, really good" and says it "gets us what we want..."

The U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals this week reinstated a discrimination case filed against the Elizabeth Arden Red Door Salon and Spa in Vienna, Virginia. The case involves a 2002 incident in which Seandria Denny took her mother to the spa for a day of pampering - and was allegedly told "we don't do black people's hair." Elizabeth Arden denies they discriminated against the Dennys.

A new study finds African Americans are less likely than whites to question their doctors or raise concerns about their care. Researchers say that may help explain the racial disparities seen in U.S. healthcare - though the findings don't discount the possibility that some doctors give African American patients less information due to racial bias.

New York City police say the attack by two white men on four Asian men in Queens is a hate crime. The white men allegedly rammed a car driven by Reynold Liang while cursing and shouting racial slurs - then beat Liang when he stopped his car to check for damage. Lawyers for Kevin Broan and Paul Heavey say their clients were acting in self defense.

The Nevada Personnel Commission has given state administrators the right to immediately fire violators of the state's sexual misconduct and sexual harassment policy. The move reportedly comes as the state grapples with sexual harassment lawsuits that are costing the Nevada government hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

And finally, a farewell. Retired Major General Kathryn George Frost died Friday after a four-year battle with cancer. Frost retired from the Army last year after a 31-year career, and was the senior female active duty officer in the U.S. Army when she retired. Her last assignment was commander of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service.

Diversity Chat for the Week of August 13th, 2006

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(This may take a few moments, but as always, it's well worth the wait!)

Welcome to Diversity Chat for the week of August 13th, 2006! This week, Tony Wade and I discuss leadership changes at the EEOC, new evidence that diversity really makes bottom-line sense for business, the importance of communicating senior leadership’s commitment to human issues, and why many white Americans believe racism and discrimination are things of the past, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

And it's about on "Out or About" this week, as I review Fiasco, a new book on the U.S. war in Iraq, which highlights how human relations missteps and cultural misunderstandings helped create the stubborn and deadly insurgency we're still fighting there.

And in our interview segment, we'll talk with former North Carolina Senator and 2004 Democratic Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards, on his thoughts about the relationship between poverty and discrimination in America, and what he sees as the answer in the ongoing immigration debate.

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

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Cari Dominguez announced this week she is stepping down at the end of her five-year term, which expires this month. A press release from the EEOC says Dominguez oversaw "record enforcement of workplace discrimination laws and outreach, and repositioned the agency for greater efficiency and effectiveness." There's no word yet on a permanent replacement. EEOC Vice Chair Naomi Earp will head the Agency on an interim basis starting September 1st.

Meanwhile, veteran labor and employment attorney Ronald Cooper this week joined the EEOC for a four-year term as the Agency's General Counsel. Cooper has worked in the labor law division of Washington D.C. firm Steptoe & Johnson for the last 34 years. In his new role, he'll run the EEOC's enforcement litigation program, among other duties.

U.S. demographics are continuing to shift, with some whites returning to the urban core, and minorities increasingly flocking to the suburbs. That's the conclusion of new U.S. Census Bureau data released last week. William Frey, a demographer for the Brookings Institution, told USA Today that suburbs aren't "just attracting whites anymore" and have become a "magnet for blacks as well as Hispanics and Asians."

Jeffrey Shifler, a white former police officer in Hagerstown, Maryland, has pleaded guilty to making anonymous death threats against African American students attending two local high schools, and against an African American member of the city council. Shifler made the death threats in November of 2005 and January of 2006. He faces 10 years in prison.

Shortly after Earl Ross, a 34-year old African American, moved into is new home in Millvale, Pennslyvania, Thomas McPherson, a white neighbor pointed a pistol at him and showered him with racial slurs. McPherson's been arrested on a variety of charges, including ethnic intimidation. Ross says he knows racism exists, but "didn't know it's like this."

Monica Hewitt says she's heartbroken after learning the teenage children of her neigbors are responsible for painting racial slurs on the driveway of her Cleveland, Ohio-area home. Hewitt, an African American, initally told law enforcement officers she didn't believe her neighbor's children were capable of committing the crime. She's lived in the neigborhood since 1982. The teenagers say they were just trying to be funny.

Tomeika Broussard says her supervisor at a Los Gatos, California orthopedic clinic discriminated against her by using racial code words to describe her and other African Americans - and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission agrees.

A complaint filed in a San Francisco federal court by the EEOC says the slurs included spelling a common word for black backwards and using the initials N.P.

The Citadel, one of the country's oldest military academies, announced this week it's instituting mandatory training to prevent sexual harassment and sexual assault at the school.

Lieutenant General John Rosa, The Citadel's current president and the former commandant of the Air Force Academy, says the training aims to teach cadets to respect themselves and each other. Rosa also says preventing alcohol abuse by students is a key component of the The Citadel's initiatve.

Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff General Michael Moseley focused part of their most recent letter to airmen on preventing sexual harassment and illegal discrimination. The July-August letter from the top Air Force brass says, among other things, that "tolerating harassment of any type is no different than committing the offense," and urges Air Force members to demonstrate a "whole-hearted respect" toward each other.

Creative Investment Research, a Minneapolis-based minority owned social investment advisory firm, announced this week it's creating a socially responsible investing portfolio made up exclusively of 40 to 60 large U.S. companies with strong diversity performance.

CRI CEO Bill Cunningham says the Research Diversity Index Portfolio makes diversity performance the top selection criterion for inclusion in the portfolio. He says all the companies in the portfolio must all have proven track records in human capital, CEO commitment, corporate communications and supplier diversity.

A company called Asia Link is helping companies with aggressive diversity initiatives turn those initiatives into a revenue stream. A press release from the company says firms with existing relationships with non-profits committed to diversity issues can leverage those relationships into more business. Asia Link says the hospitality industry is particularly well-suited to capitalize on the relationships created by effective diversity initiatives.

A new poll of likely voters in South Dakota shows a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage would likely fail if the vote were to happen today. The amendments opponents point out same-sex marriage is already illegal in South Dakota. They say voters are wary about the amendments sweeping provisions, which include language banning so-called quasi-marital relationships.

Republican Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a noted social conservative, has withdrawn his support for a statement that would affirm his office doesn't practice employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. The statement, a joint project of the Gender Policy Advocacy Coalition and the Human Rights Campaign, has been signed by a bi-partisan group of 24 U.S. Senators and 145 members of the House of Representatives. Ironically, one of Santorum's senior aides is an openly gay man.

The Anti-Defamation League is weighing in on the bitter sniping between cable heavyweights Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly. MSNBC's Olbermann recently used a Nazi salute while holding up a mask of Fox News commentator O'Reilly during a recent public appearance.

The ADL says Olbermann's use of the Nazi salute, even as joke, "only serves to trivialize the Holocaust, and denigrate the memory of the six million Jews and others who died as a result."

The New York City Fire Department last week announced a new effort to recruit women and minority fire fighters. Currently about 90 percent of the city's fire fighters are white men. As part of the effort, eligibility requirements to take the exam will be relaxed.

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta says the goal of the initiative is to "have a workforce that mirrors the citizens that we serve." The U.S. Justice Department is currently investigating the New York City Fire Department for potential discrimination in its hiring practices.

Sonia Jacobs, a former business manager for Oakland University, says the Michigan school fired her after complications related to her pregnancy caused her to miss six days of work. Jacobs filed suit last month in the U.S. District Court of Detroit claiming pregnancy discrimination. The University denies the allegations. Jacobs now works as an auditor for the Michigan Treasury Department.

NBA Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas, the current president of the New York Knicks, filed court papers this week formally denying the sexual harassment claims of Anucha Browne Sanders, the team's former senior vice president of marketing.

Sanders claims Thomas asked her to have sex with him and used sexually explict derogatory language toward her when she said no. Thomas and the Knicks say Sanders is simply a disgruntled former employee.

NASCAR's "Drive for Diversity," an effort to increase minority participation in a sport dominated by whites, may be paying off in the person of Marc Davis. Davis, a 16-year old African American, is still two years away from being old enough to race on any of the NASCAR pro circuits. But he's already being called the "Tiger Woods of Motorsports" by some.

Meanwhile, David Scott, an African American who formerly worked as a motorcoach driver for NASCAR, is suing NASCAR for race discrimination and breach of contract. Scott says NASCAR officials promised him a new job after a well-publicized racial incident in 1999, but never delivered after five years of negotiations.

New Pro Football Hall of Famer Harry Carson used his induction speech last week to urge the NFL to provide more help to retired players and improve diversity in the sport. Carson noted 2006 marks the 60th anniversary of Bill Willis integrating the NFL, and urged NFL officials to give retired NFL minority players "a shot" at head coaching positions.