The Washington Post
By Susan Kinzie
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 4, 2008; Page B06
A black doll suspended from a noose at the University of Richmond is being investigated as a possible hate crime and has sparked emotional forums and discussions about race at the school.
Last month, just before spring break, a staff member found the roughly two-foot-long doll hanging from a noose in a studio theater with a sign reading "Art is dead -- long live art."
While some students and faculty wondered whether it was a joke or an artistic statement, many worried that it was the latest in a series of symbols evoking lynching that have been found recently on university campuses and other public spaces, including an apparent noose at the University of Maryland last year.
The noose and the doll, with dark skin and hair, were leftover props. According to the student newspaper the Collegian, which first reported the story, the doll had a green hat and clothes, and a professor who saw it hanging at first thought it could be a leprechaun. It had become a sort of mascot for the department; students played with it and it would pop up in various places, sitting on a chair or left in other spots around the theater.
The university police department is trying to determine who left the doll this time and why, said university spokesman Brian Eckert. [To read the entire article, go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/03/AR2008040302541.html?wpisrc=newsletter ]
Friday, April 4, 2008
Two Black Americas
The Washington Post
By Eugene Robinson
Friday,
April 4, 2008; A23
Forty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, we sometimes talk about race in America as if nothing has changed. The truth is that everything has changed -- mostly for the better -- and that if we're ever going to see King's dream fulfilled, first we have to acknowledge that this is not an America he would have recognized.
On April 4, 1968, it was possible to make the generalization that being black in this country meant being poor; fully 40 percent of black Americans lived below the poverty line, according to census data, with another 20 percent barely keeping their heads above water. African Americans were heavily concentrated in the inner cities and the rural South. We were far less likely than whites to go to college, and our presence in the corporate world was minimal.
Today, about 25 percent of African Americans are mired in poverty. In many ways, being black and poor is a more desperate and hopeless condition now than it was 40 years ago. For those who managed to enter the middle class, however, most of the old generalizations no longer apply.
There remains a significant income gap between whites and blacks in this country, although it shrinks when educational level is factored in. But the gap in wealth, or net worth, is huge, even when you control for education, age, family size and whatever else you want to throw in. Still, African Americans control an estimated $800 billion in purchasing power. If that were translated into gross domestic product, a sovereign "Black America" would be the 15th- or 16th-richest nation on earth.
Forty years ago, not even 2 percent of black households earned the equivalent of $100,000 a year in today's dollars. Now, about 10 percent of black households have crossed that threshold. George and Louise Jefferson aren't so lonely anymore in that "deluxe apartment in the sky."
Then again, if "The Jeffersons" were being produced today, George and Louise probably wouldn't live in an apartment at all. More realistically, they'd be on a cul-de-sac in a suburban community. In Washington and a growing number of cities, more African Americans now live in the suburbs than within the city limits.
In a sense, then, the most striking measure of how far African Americans have come since 1968 isn't the rise of Barack Obama. It's the story of Stanley O'Neal.
That's not to minimize the prospect that a nation midwifed by slavery could soon have its first black president. But O'Neal did something that would have been equally unimaginable 40 years ago. He rose to become chief executive of Merrill Lynch, one of Wall Street's biggest firms; by all accounts, he was a taskmaster of a boss who cared less about whether subordinates liked him than he did about the bottom line. He placed big bets on mortgage-backed securities, generating record profits for the firm. When he got caught in the mortgage crisis several months ago and was forced to write off billions in losses, he resigned -- and floated back to earth with the help of one of the loveliest golden parachutes Wall Street has seen.
Oh, and his grandfather was born a slave. [To read the entire article, go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/03/AR2008040303122.html?wpisrc=newsletter ]
By Eugene Robinson
Friday,
April 4, 2008; A23
Forty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, we sometimes talk about race in America as if nothing has changed. The truth is that everything has changed -- mostly for the better -- and that if we're ever going to see King's dream fulfilled, first we have to acknowledge that this is not an America he would have recognized.
On April 4, 1968, it was possible to make the generalization that being black in this country meant being poor; fully 40 percent of black Americans lived below the poverty line, according to census data, with another 20 percent barely keeping their heads above water. African Americans were heavily concentrated in the inner cities and the rural South. We were far less likely than whites to go to college, and our presence in the corporate world was minimal.
Today, about 25 percent of African Americans are mired in poverty. In many ways, being black and poor is a more desperate and hopeless condition now than it was 40 years ago. For those who managed to enter the middle class, however, most of the old generalizations no longer apply.
There remains a significant income gap between whites and blacks in this country, although it shrinks when educational level is factored in. But the gap in wealth, or net worth, is huge, even when you control for education, age, family size and whatever else you want to throw in. Still, African Americans control an estimated $800 billion in purchasing power. If that were translated into gross domestic product, a sovereign "Black America" would be the 15th- or 16th-richest nation on earth.
Forty years ago, not even 2 percent of black households earned the equivalent of $100,000 a year in today's dollars. Now, about 10 percent of black households have crossed that threshold. George and Louise Jefferson aren't so lonely anymore in that "deluxe apartment in the sky."
Then again, if "The Jeffersons" were being produced today, George and Louise probably wouldn't live in an apartment at all. More realistically, they'd be on a cul-de-sac in a suburban community. In Washington and a growing number of cities, more African Americans now live in the suburbs than within the city limits.
In a sense, then, the most striking measure of how far African Americans have come since 1968 isn't the rise of Barack Obama. It's the story of Stanley O'Neal.
That's not to minimize the prospect that a nation midwifed by slavery could soon have its first black president. But O'Neal did something that would have been equally unimaginable 40 years ago. He rose to become chief executive of Merrill Lynch, one of Wall Street's biggest firms; by all accounts, he was a taskmaster of a boss who cared less about whether subordinates liked him than he did about the bottom line. He placed big bets on mortgage-backed securities, generating record profits for the firm. When he got caught in the mortgage crisis several months ago and was forced to write off billions in losses, he resigned -- and floated back to earth with the help of one of the loveliest golden parachutes Wall Street has seen.
Oh, and his grandfather was born a slave. [To read the entire article, go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/03/AR2008040303122.html?wpisrc=newsletter ]
Thursday, April 3, 2008
How Do I Overcome Resistance to New Diversity Initiatives?
Workforce.com
Dear Workforce, April 3 2008
How Do I Overcome Resistance to New Diversity Initiatives?
What challenges/resistance should I expect as our organization begins examining workforce diversity? Conversely, how can we also illustrate the potential benefits to people who may be skeptical that this effort is "just another program" being imposed on them by HRM?
—Angling for an Angle, education, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
You should expect challenges from those who don't see themselves as part of "diversity." This will happen if you cast diversity primarily in terms of race, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation. Instead, to prove that you're serious about workforce diversity, and not political correctness, include equal emphasis on a realistic variety of diversity dimensions, such as age, marital and parental status, education, personality type, communication style, the four previously mentioned dimensions, and others. Emphasize—and mean it—that everyone is part of the diverse workforce.
There will be resistance if the amount of time devoted to training, education and other diversity interventions is seen as taking away from what some will refer to as "real work," especially if allowances aren't made for time away from the job. Telling someone he has to take a day to attend diversity training, but that there won't be any slack on that project deadline, is a good way to breed resentment toward the entire effort.
The best defense against resistance to an examination of diversity is education, but not limited to the classroom variety. Leaders throughout the company, not just in HR, must help everyone in the workforce grasp this concept: If Company A has developed systems, procedures, policies and a culture that allow men and women from a variety of backgrounds to contribute productively, and Company B's systems, etc., seem to work only for certain types of people, Company A is going to perform better.
Changing an organization to adapt to a more diverse workforce requires changing culture, systems, behaviors and more. This takes time. And it takes realistic expectations.
Nothing converts skeptics like success. Demonstrating strong performance while building an organization that manages a diverse workforce helps convince the doubters and cynics that managing diversity, which we could simply call "managing reality," is a smart business strategy.
SOURCE: Richard Hadden and Bill Catlette, co-authors, Contented Cows MOOve Faster, March 19, 2008.
LEARN MORE: Learn how Denny's used diversity efforts to overcome an image of corporate racism. Also: a counterpoint suggesting that diversity programs don't measure up to the hullabaloo that surrounds them.
Dear Workforce, April 3 2008
How Do I Overcome Resistance to New Diversity Initiatives?
What challenges/resistance should I expect as our organization begins examining workforce diversity? Conversely, how can we also illustrate the potential benefits to people who may be skeptical that this effort is "just another program" being imposed on them by HRM?
—Angling for an Angle, education, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
You should expect challenges from those who don't see themselves as part of "diversity." This will happen if you cast diversity primarily in terms of race, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation. Instead, to prove that you're serious about workforce diversity, and not political correctness, include equal emphasis on a realistic variety of diversity dimensions, such as age, marital and parental status, education, personality type, communication style, the four previously mentioned dimensions, and others. Emphasize—and mean it—that everyone is part of the diverse workforce.
There will be resistance if the amount of time devoted to training, education and other diversity interventions is seen as taking away from what some will refer to as "real work," especially if allowances aren't made for time away from the job. Telling someone he has to take a day to attend diversity training, but that there won't be any slack on that project deadline, is a good way to breed resentment toward the entire effort.
The best defense against resistance to an examination of diversity is education, but not limited to the classroom variety. Leaders throughout the company, not just in HR, must help everyone in the workforce grasp this concept: If Company A has developed systems, procedures, policies and a culture that allow men and women from a variety of backgrounds to contribute productively, and Company B's systems, etc., seem to work only for certain types of people, Company A is going to perform better.
Changing an organization to adapt to a more diverse workforce requires changing culture, systems, behaviors and more. This takes time. And it takes realistic expectations.
Nothing converts skeptics like success. Demonstrating strong performance while building an organization that manages a diverse workforce helps convince the doubters and cynics that managing diversity, which we could simply call "managing reality," is a smart business strategy.
SOURCE: Richard Hadden and Bill Catlette, co-authors, Contented Cows MOOve Faster, March 19, 2008.
LEARN MORE: Learn how Denny's used diversity efforts to overcome an image of corporate racism. Also: a counterpoint suggesting that diversity programs don't measure up to the hullabaloo that surrounds them.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Affirmative Action Under Attack
Anti-affirmative action initiatives challenged
Black Enterprise
March 31, 2008
-- Come November, voters in five states may be electing more than a new president; they may be electing to end affirmative action as well. Nearly 129,000 signatures were delivered to Colorado authorities earlier this month in support of a voter initiative to end race-based policies that aim to correct inequities. Petitions are circulating in Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Nebraska.Ward Connerly, head of the American Civil Rights Coalition, is spearheading the November ballot initiatives to end affirmative action policies in public education, hiring, and contracting. He says he has raised “at least $1.5 million for his campaign’s civil rights initiative.”Connerly, a conservative black Republican, is working to collect enough petition signatures in each of the remaining states by July 6 in order to get the initiative on the ballot for the November election. “I have been working 15 years to end affirmative action as we know,” says Connerly. “I do not think affirmative action should be based on racial preference as it is today. Black people are marginalized by affirmative action and burdened by the notion we cannot compete without someone giving us something.”Connerly says the success of Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton shows that affirmative action is no longer necessary “to compensate for, ‘institutional racism and institutional sexism.’” He concedes that neither senator would have been admitted to his or her law school were it not for affirmative action. But he also points to “comments like those of Geraldine Ferraro, who despite all he has achieved, alludes to the notion that Sen. Obama is where he is because of affirmative action [and not merit].”Civil rights groups and educators are mobilizing to defeat the anti-affirmative action ballot initiative. United for Equality and Affirmative Action Legal Defense Fund, an organization dedicated to integrating minority students into educational institutions, disputes the validity of the Colorado petition. “We have already found several fraudulent signatures on [it], and we feel the language used in the petition is deceptive,” says Shanta Driver, the organization’s national director. “In fact, we have interviewed several people who said they did not understand that the petition was anti-affirmative action.” But Connerly says, “The language is very clear and reasonable; people can understand the meaning of affirmative action in reading the petition.” [To read the entire article, go to: http://www.blackenterprise.com/cms/exclusivesopen.aspx?id=4326 ]
Black Enterprise
March 31, 2008
-- Come November, voters in five states may be electing more than a new president; they may be electing to end affirmative action as well. Nearly 129,000 signatures were delivered to Colorado authorities earlier this month in support of a voter initiative to end race-based policies that aim to correct inequities. Petitions are circulating in Arizona, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Nebraska.Ward Connerly, head of the American Civil Rights Coalition, is spearheading the November ballot initiatives to end affirmative action policies in public education, hiring, and contracting. He says he has raised “at least $1.5 million for his campaign’s civil rights initiative.”Connerly, a conservative black Republican, is working to collect enough petition signatures in each of the remaining states by July 6 in order to get the initiative on the ballot for the November election. “I have been working 15 years to end affirmative action as we know,” says Connerly. “I do not think affirmative action should be based on racial preference as it is today. Black people are marginalized by affirmative action and burdened by the notion we cannot compete without someone giving us something.”Connerly says the success of Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton shows that affirmative action is no longer necessary “to compensate for, ‘institutional racism and institutional sexism.’” He concedes that neither senator would have been admitted to his or her law school were it not for affirmative action. But he also points to “comments like those of Geraldine Ferraro, who despite all he has achieved, alludes to the notion that Sen. Obama is where he is because of affirmative action [and not merit].”Civil rights groups and educators are mobilizing to defeat the anti-affirmative action ballot initiative. United for Equality and Affirmative Action Legal Defense Fund, an organization dedicated to integrating minority students into educational institutions, disputes the validity of the Colorado petition. “We have already found several fraudulent signatures on [it], and we feel the language used in the petition is deceptive,” says Shanta Driver, the organization’s national director. “In fact, we have interviewed several people who said they did not understand that the petition was anti-affirmative action.” But Connerly says, “The language is very clear and reasonable; people can understand the meaning of affirmative action in reading the petition.” [To read the entire article, go to: http://www.blackenterprise.com/cms/exclusivesopen.aspx?id=4326 ]
‘Antipreference’ Campaigns Heat Up
by Reginald Stuart
Apr 1, 2008
There are no massive crowds at his rallies and no news media entourages documenting his every word and move. Still, Ward Connerly, champion of the nation’s “antipreference” movement, is busy revving up his “Super Tuesday Equal Rights Campaign,” hoping for another knockout punch to the nation’s affirmative action programs for minorities and women.
Connerly has been campaigning in five states — Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma — seeking to get sufficient voter support to get his proposed constitutional amendment on their respective state’s November election day ballot. If he succeeds, voters would be asked this fall to decide whether their state’s constitution should include language prohibiting so-called “preferential treatment” for racial minorities and women in the admissions policies of state-controlled colleges and universities and in the awarding of contracts by state and local government bodies.
“Once we get on the ballot, I think we’ve won,” says Connerly, a California businessman who has succeeded in persuading voters in California, Michigan and Washington state to approve constitutional language similar to what he is promoting this year. “When people read the language, they are apt to vote for it,” Connerly says confidently in a telephone interview with Diverse.
Connerly’s string of successes has mobilized traditional civil rights advocates and others who support affirmative action in these states. They too are organizing, hoping to blunt his momentum and persuade voters to keep intact programs they say help level the playing field for minorities and women.
“When I learned Ward Connerly was coming to Arizona to destroy the system we have, that really bothered me,” says Kyrsten Sinema, coordinator of Protect Arizona Freedom, the umbrella organization of groups closing ranks to oppose Connerly. Sinema, a Democratic state legislator representing central Phoenix, says the impact of Connerly’s ballot initiative passing would be “colossal.”
She says the state would be forced to abandon its small program for minority and women contractors and eliminate a variety of programs at the state’s public colleges aimed at helping minorities and women.
Sinema ticks off a short list of possible victims of a Connerly win. They include the Women in Science and Engineering Program, a project at the three state universities that provides technical and financial support for women pursuing careers in these fields. Another casualty would be the Hispanic Mother Daughter Program, a project that works with Hispanic girls and their mothers from seventh grade through 12th, helping both learn skills and giving them access to programs and people who can help them become productive adults.
“I would hate to see students denied these opportunities,” says Sinema. “When Arizonans know the truth, they will vote against this.”
For sure, Connerly has his work cut out for him. What might have looked like a jigsaw puzzle when he launched his campaign in California nearly a decade ago now works like a lean, mean machine. His well-financed campaign in all five states this year is based on the same blueprint, with customized changes to fit the legal landscape of each state.
Connerly campaign committees in each state have essentially the same name, but varied petition requirements. In Arizona, where state law requires ballot petitioners to secure 300,000 signatures by July 3, work is being coordinated by the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative. In Nebraska, where 114,000 signatures are required by July 3, work is being championed by the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiatve. The Missouri campaign by a similar name needs 149,000 signatures by May 4. The Oklahoma and Colorado campaigns have cleared the petition hurdle.
[To read the entire article, go to: http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_10922.shtml ]
Apr 1, 2008
There are no massive crowds at his rallies and no news media entourages documenting his every word and move. Still, Ward Connerly, champion of the nation’s “antipreference” movement, is busy revving up his “Super Tuesday Equal Rights Campaign,” hoping for another knockout punch to the nation’s affirmative action programs for minorities and women.
Connerly has been campaigning in five states — Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma — seeking to get sufficient voter support to get his proposed constitutional amendment on their respective state’s November election day ballot. If he succeeds, voters would be asked this fall to decide whether their state’s constitution should include language prohibiting so-called “preferential treatment” for racial minorities and women in the admissions policies of state-controlled colleges and universities and in the awarding of contracts by state and local government bodies.
“Once we get on the ballot, I think we’ve won,” says Connerly, a California businessman who has succeeded in persuading voters in California, Michigan and Washington state to approve constitutional language similar to what he is promoting this year. “When people read the language, they are apt to vote for it,” Connerly says confidently in a telephone interview with Diverse.
Connerly’s string of successes has mobilized traditional civil rights advocates and others who support affirmative action in these states. They too are organizing, hoping to blunt his momentum and persuade voters to keep intact programs they say help level the playing field for minorities and women.
“When I learned Ward Connerly was coming to Arizona to destroy the system we have, that really bothered me,” says Kyrsten Sinema, coordinator of Protect Arizona Freedom, the umbrella organization of groups closing ranks to oppose Connerly. Sinema, a Democratic state legislator representing central Phoenix, says the impact of Connerly’s ballot initiative passing would be “colossal.”
She says the state would be forced to abandon its small program for minority and women contractors and eliminate a variety of programs at the state’s public colleges aimed at helping minorities and women.
Sinema ticks off a short list of possible victims of a Connerly win. They include the Women in Science and Engineering Program, a project at the three state universities that provides technical and financial support for women pursuing careers in these fields. Another casualty would be the Hispanic Mother Daughter Program, a project that works with Hispanic girls and their mothers from seventh grade through 12th, helping both learn skills and giving them access to programs and people who can help them become productive adults.
“I would hate to see students denied these opportunities,” says Sinema. “When Arizonans know the truth, they will vote against this.”
For sure, Connerly has his work cut out for him. What might have looked like a jigsaw puzzle when he launched his campaign in California nearly a decade ago now works like a lean, mean machine. His well-financed campaign in all five states this year is based on the same blueprint, with customized changes to fit the legal landscape of each state.
Connerly campaign committees in each state have essentially the same name, but varied petition requirements. In Arizona, where state law requires ballot petitioners to secure 300,000 signatures by July 3, work is being coordinated by the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative. In Nebraska, where 114,000 signatures are required by July 3, work is being championed by the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiatve. The Missouri campaign by a similar name needs 149,000 signatures by May 4. The Oklahoma and Colorado campaigns have cleared the petition hurdle.
[To read the entire article, go to: http://diverseeducation.com/artman/publish/article_10922.shtml ]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)