EthnicMajority

This week the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a group of white firefighters in New Haven CT whose promotion exam was thrown out by the city for fear of litigation because the results yielded no qualified black candidates. The Court ruled that the fear of litigation is not enough evidence to show racial discrimination.

I agree, and for once find myself agreeing with the conservative wingnuts of the Court – Roberts, Scalio, Alito, and Thomas. But on the other hand this court decision really doesn’t meet the smell test when it comes to a referendum on affirmative action.

According to a recent opinion poll, 56% of the public support affirmative action for minorities while only 36% oppose it. And yet a poll conducted by Quinnipiac University cited in a June 3rd McClatchy article before the Supreme Court ruling indicated a 71% opposition to nominee Sonia Sotomayor’s appellate court decision to rule in favor of New Haven on the case, and a 56-36% support for abolishing affirmative action altogether.

Even though these polling results seem contradictory, I think they are reflective of the public’s acknowledgment that we still have a race problem but no easy way to solve it. The problem is not whether THE test is biased. The problem is that A test is biased.

Is a written test the best way of determining who is the most qualified firefighter? Or for that matter is a written test the best way of determining the most qualified candidates for any job?

We need to stop evaluating affirmative action based on test results, even though it is tempting to do so because of the quantitative nature of tests. Otherwise there are a few million Asian Americans in this country who deserve a promotion.

For more information, check out this article in the New York Times.

Ethnicmajority Affirmative Action page.

The anti-immigration folks are getting what they wished for. According to research conducted by Vivek Wadhwa at Duke and University of California Berkeley funded by the Kauffman Foundation, skilled immigrants are moving back to their home countries in droves. Because there are no statistics covering this issue, the research team conducted a detailed survey of over 1200 Indian and Chinese immigrants who had worked or received education in the U.S. and returned to their home countries, and the results are illuminating.

It’s no surprise that the surveyed immigrants’ initial motivations for coming to the U.S. was for professional and educational opportunities. It’s also not a surprise that many immigrants miss their families and friends, and run into significant language and cultural barriers. And in spite of this America has been the unquestioned land of opportunity by the rest of the world for decades.

What is surprising is how rapidly the opportunity gap between America and the rest of the world is narrowing. According to the survey, 87% of the Chinese and 62% of Indians felt they had better longer-term professional growth opportunities in their home countries than in the U.S. And this wasn’t just because the respondents had overstayed their work visas – 30% of the them were either permanent residents or citizens of the U.S.

Even though immigrants make up 12% of the U.S. population, they make up 24% of the science and engineering bachelor’s degrees, and 47% of the science and engineering workers who have PhDs. They have also co-founded some of our most successful technology firms, such as Google, Intel, eBay, and Yahoo.

This brain drain is significant, especially in light of the worsening economic conditions in the U.S. The long-term solution is a well-educated workforce that can be innovative enough to develop new technologies and rebuild the manufacturing sector.

Too bad so many Americans view immigrants as part of the problem rather than part of the solution.

Ethnicmajority Workplace page.

And it’s living in college football. According to the New York Times, only four out of 119 NCAA coaches in Division 1 football are African American. This amounts to 3.4% in a sport where 50% of the players are black.

The latest high-profile example occurred at Auburn, where the university chose a white coach who had failed miserably at his previous job over a black coach who had turned his college’s program around and made it highly successful. Clearly there are double standards. At perhaps the country’s most visible and prestigious college football program, Notre Dame made headlines by hiring Tyrone Willingham as its first black coach, but after one good season and one bad one, abruptly fired him. Their next coach, Charlie Weiss, had nearly the same results and was given a seven year contract extension and a big raise. He remains on the job in spite of just finishing another horrible season.

At least Willingham has been able to find head coaching jobs after being fired. While the NCAA coaching mill is full of re-treads, no other African American coach has been able to find a head coaching job after being terminated.

This is a disgrace and looks like white affirmative action. You would think that if the public is willing to vote overwhelmingly for an African American president, the athletic directors and college presidents at these colleges and universities could find some coaches who better reflect the demographics of their teams. According to the Times, only 9.2% of the athletic directors and 2.5% of the college presidents are African American. That might explain something.

More about affirmative action.

According to NY Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, “scholars” believe this is the phenomenon that Barack Obama faces with respect to votes he could lose because he is an African American. He contends that there is a faction of the population that aren’t racist, but would just naturally gravitate toward one type of candidate versus another. He cites statistics showing white job interviewer, when faced with borderline candidates, will recommend the white candidate 76% of the time, and the African American candidate only 45% of the time.

Isn’t this the very definition of racist behavior? I guess in Kristof’s opinion, 76-45 isn’t a large enough disparity to call the interviewers racist. I’m not sure which is more appalling, knowing that African Americans already start with almost a 2 to 1 disadvantage at job interviews, or that some people are willing to write this disparity off as within the margin for error without the need for accountability, either by the interviewers, hiring managers, or the companies.

The research stirred debate throughout the legal community, and Sander said he was surprised at the vehemence with which people attacked his motives. A former Volunteers in Service to America participant, fair-housing activist and campaigner for Chicago’s first black mayor, Sander, who is white, insisted he was simply trying to examine an important question.

Full story…

SACRAMENTO – After over 50 organizations joined forces to oppose a discriminatory policy by the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), the Tour announced today they would back off plans to suspend players who could not efficiently speak English.

“While it is quite unfortunate that in the 21^st century any organization would think such a policy is acceptable, I am pleased that the LPGA heard the millions of American voices who opposed this unfair, unreasonable, and discriminatory mandate,” said Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo).  “While these types of incidents unfortunately still seep into our society, it is refreshing to see the overwhelming number of people who will fight for equality, fairness, and justice.”

Despite there being no relevance to the sport, the LPGA claimed that it was important for players to be able to interact with American media and event sponsors.  No other professional sports league in the United States has such a mandate.  One major sponsor, State Farm, had already announced they would no longer support the LPGA if they do not rescind the policy.

“The LPGA has received valuable feedback from a variety of constituents regarding the recently announced penalties attached to our effective communications policy,” said LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens.  “We have decided to rescind those penalty provisions.  After hearing the concerns, we believe there are other ways to achieve our shared objective of supporting and enhancing the business opportunities for every Tour player. In that spirit, we will continue communicating with our diverse Tour players to develop a better alternative. The LPGA will announce a revised approach, absent playing penalties, by the end of 2008.”

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SACRAMENTO � Representing millions of Americans, several leading civil rights organizations have joined Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) in opposing a recently announced policy by the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) to require its athletes to speak English starting in 2009.�

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Among the groups condemning the LPGA is the California National Organization for Women (NOW), the largest state organization of feminists in the United States, as well as two of the oldest and most respected Asian American civil rights organizations � Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA).�

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Washington, D.C. � The Asian American Justice Center (AAJC) urges the LPGA sponsors to withdraw support of the Tour until the English proficiency policy is retracted. The LPGA will require all players to be proficient in English starting in 2009 and those who cannot pass an oral evaluation of English skills face suspension from the Tour. There are currently 121 international players from 26 countries on the LPGA Tour.

“This policy is tantamount to national origin discrimination, which is prohibited under Civil Rights Act,” said Vincent A. Eng, deputy director of AAJC. �The policy is an affront to our American principles of diversity and equality. It is even more unconscionable that the LPGA is devolving to past divisive and exclusionary practices of their sport following the successful closing of the unifying Olympic Games.”

Full story…

Two officials suspended by NASCAR are accused in a $225 million lawsuit of exposing themselves to a former co-worker, the Associated Press has learned.Tim Knox and Bud Moore have been placed on indefinite administrative paid leave.

NASCAR will not reveal the identities of the officials sent home Friday from Kentucky Speedway, but a person familiar with the investigation confirmed to AP on Saturday that Knox and Moore were suspended. The person requested anonymity because NASCAR’s investigation is ongoing.

NASCAR did not give a reason for the men’s suspension, and chairman Brian France cautioned against assuming the officials are being punished for allegations made in the lawsuit.

“Obviously we found some violations in our policy, but I would not jump to conclusions to assume that all of the allegations that were made are accurate,” France said at Michigan International Speedway, site of Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race.

Full story…�

To climb the ladder in corporate America, minorities have always had to learn to shift between two worlds — that of the mostly white-male business culture, and their own.

Minority business leaders and diversity experts say this fluid back-and-forth movement allows minorities to think outside their cultural norms and more clearly understand how others see the world.

And in an ironic turn, they say, this ability — born of necessity — could be the key to an elusive goal for minorities — finally breaking the corporate glass ceiling, especially in the upper ranks.

In the global economy, companies are increasingly looking for leaders who can manage and communicate across cultures, who can shift from one world view to another. And as this skill set becomes more highly valued, greater numbers of minority executives — many of whom have this skill — could be promoted to the highest corporate levels, business leaders and diversity experts say.

Full story…�