By Walter L. Hilliard III
Not long ago, the Reverend Jesse Jackson called out Apple, Google, FaceBook and others for their lack of diversity, but nothing really ever changes and what good are a few well-placed tokens if there is no cultural change by bringing in scores of minorities, especially Black, and “growing” their presence through hiring?
The reality is that White business owners, hiring personnel, and otherwise, idea of diversity is and has always been “White women,” gays, often Asians– and everybody else, “to hell with you.” Just like Affirmative Action (signed into law in 1961 by President Kennedy; expanded to include sex in 1967) was used to support Black upward mobility, initially, Whites added White women to limit Blacks opportunity and promote opportunities for White women, including their getting the contracts some of their husbands or other Whites and minorities once received. Not to mention, corporate America and colleges using “diversity” to get around addressing Black inequality issues.
So what do I care if CNN, MSNBC, and the others are glamorizing some CEO named Dan Price, owner of Gravity Payments (Seattle-based credit card processing company), in a room where there’s not one single Black person (at least I didn’t see any cheering among those employees present or in his workplace when he took cameras on a tour?), when over half of the students walking onto college campuses will predominately be students of color by 2017? I’ll tell you what– how about the media do a story of a White CEO who promotes lots of qualified Blacks (they always say “we can’t find them) to executive and upper-management positions?
Like I said: “The Same Ol’, Same Ol’– Okeydoke.
Enough said.
