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Affirmative action still needed here
By Rhonda Hackett, Denver
Both practices are core elements of what has become commonly known as affirmative action. Yet, here in Colorado
Somewhere along the way
Those folks riding on the
Clearly if
Rhonda Hackett is a clinical psychologist living in Denver.
Affirmative Action (Karen B, cut and paste messages then spell check then BEFORE you post them) has not been around as long as many may think. Hmm, lets develop a timeline;
1619 - 1st slave arrive in America, considered property and like a cow or chicken had no rights.
1864 - Civil War ends
1865 - 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolishes (physical) slavery - Slave codes replaced by black codes. Physical slavery outlawed, physical and psychological torture intimidation becomes the norm, lynching a normal occurrence.
Jim Crow placed in effect for 100 years
1954 - Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education - "Equalizes " school systems. Many white schools shut down rather than integrate. Many remain "separate and UNEQUAL" through the late 80's.
1965 - Civil Rights Act - The country is to go from 346 years (1 generation is from father to son/mother to daughter at about 25, meaning the average parent has a child by 25, then it is almost 14 generations of mental/physical bondage) of treating blacks as inferior in every way to treating them as equal in housing, education, employment, public accommodations and receipt of federal funds. Is it enough to simply take down the "Colored" and "Whites Only" signs?
1971 - The First Title VII case is decided by the Supreme Court
Lesson - It will take more than 40 years to set free the minds of many African Americans in America. Affirmative Action under Executive Order 112246 only applies to employers with 50 or more employees who also have contracts with the federal government with goods and services worth $50,000 or more. Affirmative Action (AA) only applies to 20% of the workforce (legally) and was never meant to be a "quota system". Those whop have benefited the most from AA have been our Caucasian women not people of color. Studies have been completed at Harvard, Yale and Stanford (Americas best Anglo-Saxon Institutions of Higher Learning) so surf the web to obtain wisdom instead of music, videos and sales. Oh, and as many in my family choose to sit and tan periodically to "get some color", (this is for QBT) would indicate we even know that our whiteness (or lack of color) leaves us ashamedly only to struggle for the color of power in the seat of the nations monetarily influential majority. Back to the African Americans, this Nation owes them an in-depth apology for our ignorance, arrogance, and stubbornness. As the nation suffered right before the Civil War and during the reconstruction, the enemy here is the rich, who incidentally have the financial influence to guide the politicians well after they are voted into office. I encourage you all to get into REAL American History so that, from the same TRUE sheet of music, we as a people can continue what needs to be and end what should be rather than be manipulated by politicians, corporations and worst of all, our own ignorance of our past, present and future. We must do this rather than bickering over redundant half truths, ours future generation deserve THAT much from us, don’t they?
Love and peace to all
Mr. Lando
In addition to reader comments posted here, I have received numerous letters via snail and email. In the interest of time, I have responded to all comments with a single post on my blog at www.rhondahackett.com Thanks! RH
Posted by Rhonda Hackett on June 4, 2007 01:50 PMNot again. I am a white woman who was turned down for my first job because the job was for a man. The person they hired was someone I was tutoring in the field they were hiring for. I got another job and a month or so later got a call from the company because "golden boy" or should I cal him "magic male" skipped out leaving them with work to be done and no one to do it.
With that I can speak to discrimination and say without any doubts that any preference given to someone based on anything other than ability to do the job is wrong. I want fire fighters who can pass muster. I want totally qualified police. I also want the police who are monorities to be free of any suspicion that they were given any "breaks" based on skin color. That is discrimination of the worst kind. The writer is afraid of the people because he knows that if this is put to a vote it will pass. LBJ and Martin Luther King had the right of it when they supported people being judged on "the quality of their charactor not the color of their skin." What say we try it?
Oh yeah. affermative action.
Several years ago when my husband applied for a job he was told that they could not hire him bcause he checked "white" in the box designating race. My husband has black hair and olive colored skin. It was suggested that he get his name changed.
Years and years ago when I was in the navy. The navy was told that they had to start accepting women who had low scores on the test that we had to take before we were accepted into the navy. Guess what race they were.
My last sentence in the above paragraph is not racist. It is a statement of fact.
The entrance standards for the military have been dumbed down because of affermative action, and piss poor education standards in our public schools. Training manuals are mostly pictures these days.
Affermative Action holds miniorities back. Telling them that they cannot advance themselves without the governments help. Telling employers that they can only hire people based on their race, not their qualifcations for the job.
Affermative Action is a government backed and inforced racist law. It is very much anti-white.
Fella's, if you want a government contract, put your business in your wife's, or a female family members name.
Posted by Karen B on May 24, 2007 07:43 AMSharon:
Everybody is a person of color...including white people as white is a color.
The only non-people of color are transparent or invisible people, which don't exist.
The term "People of Color" is designed to be exclusionary to a group of people based on their skin color, in this case...white.
Therefore the term "People of Color" is nothing more than a racist term aimed against white people by the Politically Correct.
Posted by QBT on May 23, 2007 10:43 PMMany White females seem to have developed amnesia about affirmative action. It fits the racist rhetoric to just discuss people of color but people who do that are being dishonest. White females have benefitted from affirmative action more than anyone else. They also stand in, dishonestly and like the Ward Connerlys, to front for majority companies. Get rid of affirmative action and see how many females stay on the rise up. Bush's Domestic Policy Advisor made his feelings known when he stated he wouldn't hire another female because they get pregnant.
As strange as it may seem to racists, there have been many qualified people of color who haven't gotten positions because of color. It's also racist to assume that people of color are not passing professional exams and Whites are, without citing to actual numbers to back this up.
Last but not least, I'm willing to bet that some people who have commented negatively on affirmative action have received jobs and other positions because of whom they know or because of family connections. They don't turn these positions down on principle! Now, who is most likely to be in power to give out these positions?
If people took the tired and dishonest arguments to a level or reality and considered these relevant and often unspoken occurances, then I might believe they weren't being racist in their arguments.
Citizen...why do they need to get their act together they have affirmative action.
Posted by golden on May 23, 2007 01:26 PMCitizen...why do they need to get their act together? They have affirmative action.
Posted by golden on May 23, 2007 01:22 PMExcuse me? Has anyone checked into the race ratio in Denver? Ya' Think!!! (Shouldn't that be taken into account?) Also, people should be Qualified for positions they wish to hold. Those qualifications, and the people that look at them should not have to reconize their race!
Posted by Karen on May 22, 2007 02:17 PMWow. Now there's some forward-looking, progressive 1960's reasoning!
Posted by Sally on May 22, 2007 09:24 AMQBT, Yes I realize there are a lot of occupations that require a test.For some reason Lawyers came to mind first.
Now that you bring up Dr's. I'll ask Rhonda if she thinks we should lower the standards for Dr's so we can make sure their are a percentage of black Dr's based on the population?
To me that wouls be outrageous,but the people who want affirmative action would actually believe that it should be applied across the board.
I would like to ask her if the Police and Fire Dept. hire on the basis of affirmative action,How many of those men and women serving in these departments would feel safe having an affirmative action hire backing them up?
Some occupations require a high content of knowledge and skill. If we water down requirements to get hired in these jobs,we are putting people in danger.
AMEN!
It's not just lawyers passing the bar; but some doctors, CPA's, Professional Engineers (P.E.), and Professional Land Surveyors (P.L.S.) who fail the exams on the first attempt and try again after studying to shore up the areas they are weak in.
Posted by QBT on May 20, 2007 10:44 AMJust another example of dumbing down America.
If a minority cannot pass an exam , then they are not qualified.If they have character they would study harder or seek more education to pass the exams.
One example is lawyers. They must pass an exam to become a lawyer. Quite a few fail the first time.Do they throw up their hands and quit after going through law school?No,they hit the books again and study till they pass.
Should occupations that require an exam in writing change the exam to make it easier for minorities to pass,while others must pass the difficult one?
If a person doesn't have enough self respect and drive to succeed in getting hired for jobs they are pursueing without lowering the standards or lower the hiring expectations of the applicant ,they do not deserve that job and are not qualified.
I wouldn't want to be hired for a job that I was not comepletely qualified because the color of my skin or being a minority.
That is wrong and undermining the work force. We need qualified people not people who are not.
Normally I don't read overly long blog postings; but Jim in Erie has written an excellent response to the call for more discrimination...err...affirmative action by Rhonda Hackett.
Posted by QBT on May 19, 2007 07:58 PMWhat's most frightening in the comments so far is people like jjtarheel, who continue to parrot Al Sharpton's racist lie, yes LIE, about the percentage of KIA in Vietnam. The facts are that some 12.4% of KIA in Vietnam were "Negro"(Term in use at the time), and some 86.1% were Caucasian. But 'brother' Sharpton and others, some even elected members of Congress, have been playing that racist lie card for decades now, and others believe it.
Worst of all, IMO, people like him vote, or claim to. And they elect others who also believe the LIE.
And now....for the post I intended to place on this Speak out..: My comments contained within the **.....**
You would think we live in a day and age when two black men being hired for city government jobs is a normal happening. It is 2007, after all — some 40 years since the heyday of the Civil Rights movement. Yet, not only was the Denver Fire Department’s recent hiring of two black men an irregular event, it became headline news. Why? Because it has been nearly seven years since any black person was hired as a firefighter in Denver despite the fact that 12 percent of its applicant pool identifies itself as African-American.
**Or maybe this kind of “story” makes headlines because to some, race is much more important then merit based achievement. Also, I notice the use of the term “applicant pool”, not the more definitive “applicants”. Could it be that 12% of the general population of Denver identify themselves as African-American, but that no where near 12% of the actual applicants to the DFD are black? Also, why is it that there is some kind of assumption that whatever percent a minority makes up of the population, that same percent MUST be represented within every government agency, or else it’s a “race issue”? Maybe, just perhaps, 12% of the black population in Denver don’t WANT to be fire fighters, or aren’t qualified?**
Larry Trujillo has made minority hiring a top priority throughout his tenure as Denver’s fire chief, admirably leading the uphill battle to build a department that more closely reflects the culturally diverse community it serves. The department’s efforts to beef up minority recruiting as well as implementing changes designed to more fairly test minority applicants played an integral role in this month’s monumental hires.
**“Monumental”?? Oh please, two more employees of the Denver Fire Department, regardless of whatever ‘negatives’ had to be overcome, is hardly “monumental”. But then NOT using some earth shattering adjective wouldn’t make this a story worthy of headlines, would it?**
Both practices are core elements of what has become commonly known as affirmative action. Yet, here in Colorado, a 2008 ballot measure challenging affirmative action is in the works. Similar to those passed in California and recently in Michigan, the measure seeks to restrict government from using race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education or public contracting.
**Gee, you mean that something as prejudiced as the same standard for all applicants might become the norm? How Un American!!**
Don’t get the pundits wrong — they are not advocating equal rights. Instead they are suggesting the voters of Colorado support a measure that can only be regarded as a bald faced attempt to obliterate any gains that have been made over the years through government’s efforts to create hiring policies of inclusion.
**Here we agree. It IS a bald faced attempt to obliterate the ‘gains’ that have been made over the years…..” But then I see these ‘gains’ as a quota expectation, a lowering of standards to insure that the ‘disadvantaged’ applicant can muster to a lesser standard. If my life, or that of my family, is dependent upon the proper response of trained and dedicated professional fire fighters, excuse me if I want the very best available. Not the ones who marginally cleared a reduced professional standard.**
If such a measure goes to the voters and is ultimately passed, the Denver Fire Department will likely lose its newly won right, for example, to supplement oral for written applicant testing in those cases where the pen-and-paper exam unfairly biases against minority applicants. Should that occur, who knows — Denver might go a decade or more before it succeeds in hiring another black firefighter?
**So this “newly won right” to substitute an oral examination for a written one might be in jeopardy? So how does the orally tested Fire Fighter deal with the mountains of written instructional materials that are the day to day life of most professional people? If they can’t read or write well enough to pass a classroom examination, how are they going to deal with the requirement to read and understand, perhaps even write for others to understand, the incredible complexities of modern day fire fighting? Long gone are the days of arriving at the fire, and throwing gallons and gallons of water at the flames. Fire fighters MUST know so very much more about the myriad of potential fire causes, treatments and the consequence of each. If they can’t read to take a test, how are they going to learn enough to ever be a Professional Fire Fighter? Or are we to accept a lower professional standard in city fire fighters, just to satisfy some race based hiring demand?**
Somewhere along the way, Lyndon Johnson’s 1965 decree to federal contractors to “take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed and that employees are treated during employment without regard to their race, creed, color or national origin” has been abridged to the hot-button idiom “affirmative action” which inexplicably has morphed into the notion of so-called “reverse discrimination.”
Like Denver’s fire chief, the late president was clearly a proponent of inclusion, fighting for the right of all people to have an equal chance at a job regardless of skin color. This has also ‘morphed’ into the notion that if someone isn’t able to pass the standard that has always been in place, the standard must be at fault, not the applicant. Thus the oral versus written exam, and other changes in the standards expected of professional City employees.
Those folks riding on the “affirmative action is itself racist or sexist” bandwagon routinely sound off about the young or middle-aged white men they know of who were passed over for jobs they were purportedly better qualified for than the hired minority applicant with presumed inferior credentials.
Interestingly, there is not a single scientific study proving reverse discrimination exists at all, much less at the hands of an effort intended to secure equal footing for everyone. If a minority is hired when white people are in the pool of eligible applicants, there is a rush to assume the employee was hired only because of affirmative action. This is racism at its most heinous.
Clearly if a Denver city department has gone nearly seven years without hiring a black person, the affirmative action bogyman is not wreaking havoc in the Mile High City, though the culprit LBJ courageously started to take on all those years ago appears to be alive and well.
**You don’t say how many people the DFD did hire in that magic seven year period. I wonder why? Could it be that the numbers don’t help your position, so you didn’t bother?**
Biased hiring practices that place minority candidates at a distinct disadvantage continue to plague our efforts to create and secure a fair and just society. Coloradans dedicated to an inclusive community must band together to not only stop this bogus measure from ever appearing on a ballot, but to dedicate energies to improving upon the task set forth by LBJ all those decades ago.
**“Our efforts to create and secure a fair and just society?” Who would be this “our”? Are YOU an elected representative of the people, so that you can be the voice of “our”? Or do you have the mistaken belief that the whole of society is of the opinion that we must be re”created” to some level that someone else, you(?), declare “fair and just”? You have some nerve.**
Like it or not, we still have a long way to go.
**And as long as there are people who preach the claim of “disadvantaged” minorities, those minorities will continue to be disadvantaged. People generally respond to the requirement to improve their lives. Affirmative Action makes an institution out of declaring that it is not only easier, but a “right” to continue to seek lower expectations. **
By the way, you have quite the gall to determine for the entire country that “We still have a long way to go.” YOU may have a long way to go, but that hardly qualifies you to speak for the whole Nation, does it? I also notice you made no mention of the fact that for a good portion of the years that DFD didn’t hire a black person, the City had a black Mayor. Interesting lack of fair comment, no?
Affirmative Action is nothing more than Gummint mandated and legalized discrimination. A quota in the name of "Diversity in all its glorious perversity" is still a quota.
At my last employer I was a FTE (Full Time Employee), and when an IS/IT job that I was qualified for became available, I didn't even get an opportunity for an interview as the job was filled. Who filled the job? A contract worker who was black and would ultimately become the first black in the IS/IT department. Although this man as I understand it is qualified for the job, he didn't have to compete for it since the job wasn't posted internally and externally as was the rule. I only heard about it from a friend in IS/IT who heard a rumor of the pending job opening and knew I would be qualified for it. As a white man, I was discriminated against by Affirmative Action. How many white, brown, red and yellow people were discriminated against to fill this quota is unknown. This occurred at a Department Of Energy research laboratory.
If the two black men hired by the Denver Fire Department are truly qualified to be firefighters, then I am happy for them to realize their dreams to become firemen. However, if they were hired to fill a quota and they are not qualified; then how many lives are put at risk along with the potential for property loss?
Affirmative Action is nothing more than another misguided welfare victim-hood program by the Gummint.
Posted by QBT on May 18, 2007 11:27 PMPrez Boy-George (felonious UCMJ draft-dodger) don't want us to have Affirmative Action our diversity in traditional colleges or federal contracting opportunites. However, he has approved a "diversity plan" where blacks can go-to-the-head-of-the-line in applying for our military service academies (USMA, USAFA, USNA, USCG, ROTC, etc.). TRANSLATION: White flight from military service for the past 60 years. This is his Vietnam draft-dodging mentality. 55% of the "soldier-draftees" killed in Vietnam were black, while we only comprised 14% of the nation's entire population.
I will also be afraid of Mitt Romney's "diversity plan", if he is elected. When Nam broke-out, Mitt broke for his Mormon mission. Like Boy-George, Mitt's old-man (Nixon cabinet member), got old Mitt an illegal Mormon religious draft-deferment. Elijah Muhammad sought a religious draft-deferment and he was rewarded with a 3 year federal prison sentence. Elijah's son, Wallace D. Muhammad, sought the same draft deferment, and you guessed it, Wallace was sentenced to 3 years in federal prison too. Elijah was Muhammad Ali's religious advisor. Mitt's Mormon elders called members of tribe, "black devils" and they also said, we could only get into heaven, if we remained slaves. Does Mitt owe the brothers 3 years in federal prison too?
Posted by jjtarheel on May 18, 2007 11:16 PMThis author is racist on so many levels it is surprising that such attitudes continue to impact our governmental policy. What the author fails to mention, in reference to both Denver Firefighter and Police hiring, is that the City of Denver, appropriately, was sued for passing over hundreds of more qualified applicants for years in order to hire minority members with drastically lower qualifying scores in the service exams. No this is not "reverse discrimination", but the old fashioned discrimination on a massive scale and with the full backing of unwilling taxpayers! Voters will have the opportunity to vote against discrimination directly, and for the first time, in Colorado. Three states, California, Washington, and Michigan have all voted overwhelmingly to end taxpayer funded discrimination. Clearly, voters have much greater wisdom than the racists who want to continue and expand racial divisions within our country. The results will speak for themselves.
Posted by RS on May 18, 2007 08:20 PMSomeone needs to explain to me how "pen-and-paper exams are unfairly biased against minority applicants"
Posted by Steve on May 18, 2007 07:16 PMI want my reparations.
No white man should get a job as long as there are unemployed black men in this country.
If my great great grandfather would have been PAID instead of being enslaved, my family would be millionaires by now.
Where the hell is my 40 acres and a mule?
I'll take my parcel out of the center of downtown Denver, and I'll be there to collect it on Monday.
Posted by Grandson of Slaves on May 18, 2007 06:32 PMLet's see, it has been more than 40 years and you still believe that minorities have a disadvantage! Well, if they do have one, it is because they have not taken it upon themselves to get educated. They have had the same educational opportunities as everyone else. There are lots of non-minorities that can not pass exams either. Do you want to make the playing field even for them too? If you do it for the "minorities" why not do it for the "non-minorities" that can not pass the test? Bill Cosby says it better than you. "It is time for the minorities to take responibilty for their own lives".
How many years do they need to get their act together??
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