Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which falls on the third Monday of January, is a federal holiday around the time of Dr. King’s Jan. 15 birthday. It was declared a federal holiday in 1986 and is now observed in all 50 states, with South Carolina the last to adopt it, in 2000. According to the Bureau of National Statistics, about a third of private employers now give employees the day off. A questionnaire sent to the 587 participants in the DiversityInc Top 50 survey found that 61 percent close their offices—and all but two of the companies on the DiversityInc Top 50 list are closed.

• 96 percent of the companies in the survey observe the holiday in some way.
• 65 percent of the companies that close also plan additional events and volunteer efforts for employees.
• 91 percent of the participants that stay open plan additional events and volunteer efforts for employees.

In addition to office closures, the responses show that companies rely on four strategies to commemorate MLK Day: Volunteerism, Resource Groups, Events and Corporate Communications. Below, we share best practices from more than 20 companies.

Volunteerism

Forty percent of the companies we surveyed encourage employees to utilize the holiday as a day of service and volunteerism. Several companies, including Kaiser Permanente (No. 3 in the DiversityInc Top 50), Marriott International (No. 21) and Accenture (No. 12), give employees the day off to serve nonprofits aimed at underrepresented groups in their communities through a call to action for the National Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service.

• “For the ninth consecutive year, Kaiser Permanente is proud to participate in the National Day of Service in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. On this day, thousands of Kaiser Permanente employees and physicians will step out of lab coats and suits and into painting caps and tool belts, rolling up their sleeves in community service to honor Martin Luther King Jr. and his commitment to improving lives through dedicated service. Last year, employees broke records with more than 7,000 volunteers, including physicians and senior leaders, a 10 percent increase from the previous year. Volunteer activities took place at over 130 sites across the country, serving an estimated 35,000 people.” —Rosalind Padilla, Senior Project Manager, Workforce Diversity, National Diversity, Kaiser Permanente

• “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Day of Service has become an annual call to action for volunteers across the country to get involved in meaningful community service. In this spirit of celebration, Accenture people in Detroit and Washington, D.C., will take time to give back by participating in local MLK Day events in January 2013. … Accenture’s Carolinas African American employee resource group in Charlotte will be joining with the Charlotte Experienced Hire employee resource group to serve the Charlotte community through the Habitat for Humanity MLK Day Build project. Accenture volunteers in the Miami office are invited to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy and participate in various service activities. Volunteer groups will also be participating in landscaping, mural painting and gardening projects to help beautify the school grounds.”  —Stacey Jones, Senior Director, Corporate Marketing, Accenture 

• “Marriott International honors the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in many ways. We host ongoing volunteer activities in various geographical regions where associates can serve as volunteers.”  —Maruiel Perkins-Chavis, Vice President, Workforce Effectiveness & Diversity, Marriott International 

• “At Walmart, Dr. King’s message aligns with our company’s three basic beliefs: respect for the individual, service to our customer, and striving for excellence. 2013 will mark Walmart’s 17th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. In addition to a home-office program where Mayor Dennis, the Honorable Alexis Herman and Tavis Smiley have served as guest speakers, the company has also collaborated with community-based organizations and school districts in community programs. The company also has a Day of Service project that encourages our associates to give back to our community. As Dr. King represented a lifetime of service, Walmart is committed to serve our associates and our customers.” —Donald Fan, Senior Director, Global Office of Diversity, Walmart

• “Altria encourages our employees to use Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service volunteering in honor of Rev. King. We sent a communication that went out to our company employees letting them know how they could get involved: Make It a Day On, Not a Day Off. Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service (MLK Day) marks the beginning of the year of service as millions of Americans honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by volunteering in their communities. The Altria Volunteers program is one of the cornerstones of ‘Contributing Together,’ giving employees the opportunity to get involved in their community by participating in volunteer events. In support of our volunteer program, Altria Group and its companies have partnered with the HandsOn Network to positively impact local communities nationwide while simultaneously promoting strong corporate citizenship and employee-engagement goals.” —Nancy Adams, Senior Manager – Diversity / AAP / HR Client Services, Altria Client Services

• “Last year, as in previous years, Harland Clarke has encouraged our employees to take on the true spirit of Martin Luther King Day by serving the community. Rather than taking the day ‘off,’ our employees take a day ‘on’ of service.” —Stacy Franklin, Vice President of Human Resources, Diversity and Workforce Performance, Harland Clarke

• “Independence Blue Cross’s corporate volunteerism group, the Blue Crew, participates in the Martin Luther King Day of Service.” —John F. Clayton Jr., Manager, Diversity, Inclusion & Workforce Initiatives, Independence Blue Cross 

Resource Groups

Thirty percent of companies’ Black resource groups take the lead in planning celebrations, events and communications to promote Dr. King’s message of inclusion to all employees. The resource groups frequently volunteer within their communities as well.

• “Some of Ernst & Young’s Black Professional Networks (BPN) have convened client events in honor of Black History Month. For example, our West Sub-Area BPN co-hosted a ‘Black History Month Executive Roundtable’ last year with the Kaiser Permanente African-American Professional Association. The event featured a panel moderated by Tony Kendall (Chairman and CEO, Mitchell & Titus, LLP) and panelists from Gilead Sciences, Kaiser Permanente, Onyx Pharmaceuticals, AAA Northern California, Textainer Group and CBS Interactive. … Our Boston office BPN held its second annual Black History Month celebration last year, where it recognized members and champions alike for their involvement and support.” —Emily Lobel Kameros, Associate Director, Inclusiveness, Americas People Team, Ernst & Young (No. 6 on the DiversityInc Top 50)

• “This year, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield’s African-American affinity group, Enlightenment and Empowerment Enterprise, had invited the League of Women Voters of New Jersey to participate in our celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. They showcased their organization by distributing literature informing our employees about the importance of registering to vote as well as how they can get involved in the voter-registration drive. Bookmarks, which contained a reprint of one of Dr. King’s speeches, were also distributed to our employees. In addition to our affinity group’s luncheon, we run excerpts of several of Dr. King’s videoed speeches as well as various quotes and historical facts regarding Dr. King on our internal television monitors during that time as well.” —Alison Banks-Moore, Chief Diversity Officer, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey (one of DiversityInc’s Top 10 Regional Companies)

• “Accenture’s Detroit African American employee-resource group will convene for an interactive panel discussion entitled ‘Living the Dream … the Accenture Way’ to reflect on Dr. King’s legacy and how diverse workplaces like Accenture, and our clients, are providing an inclusive environment and what things can be done as we continue to move forward. In coordination with the event, Accenture employees will host a canned-goods drive to collect nonperishable foods that will be donated to Detroit-based Capuchin Soup Kitchen. … Accenture’s African-American employee-resource group in Philadelphia will work with the YWCA for a day of workshops and mentoring.” —Stacey Jones, Senior Director, Corporate Marketing, Accenture

• “AT&T’s African American resource group—Community NETwork—participates in several January events across the nation: The Connecticut chapter sponsors a bus trip to the Presidential Inauguration and reflects on Martin Luther King Jr.’s life too as we pay tribute to President Barack Obama’s being elected to a second term in office; the Detroit chapter’s MLK Oratorical Program will have singing and liturgical dance, featuring 10 students reciting the ‘I Have a Dream Speech’; Chicago and Charlotte chapters will participate in A Day of Service, honoring Martin Luther King Jr.; and San Antonio chapters are the major sponsors of the largest MLK parade in the nation. We expect to have close to 100 employees marching in the parade. Also, the Oklahoma City Community NETwork chapter will participate in its local, Oklahoma City MLK parade.” —Forrest Parrott, Executive Director – Internal Communications, AT&T (No. 4 on the DiversityInc Top 50)

• “Each year, H.O.N.O.R. (Helping Our Neighbors With Our Resources) and the A.A.L.C. (African American Leadership Council), two of Johnson & Johnson’s enterprise-wide resource groups, celebrate the life and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This annual ceremony, now in its 35th year, also serves as a means to honor members of the Johnson & Johnson companies and the local community who have inspired and demonstrated a passion for others through caring and service.” —Anthony Carter, Vice President, Global Diversity & Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer, Johnson & Johnson (No. 11 on the DiversityInc Top 50)

• “IMPACT, Humana’s African-American Network Resource Group, coordinated an ‘Impact Day’ for Humana associates to give a day of service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Members from all five of our Network Resource Groups volunteered at the following nonprofit organizations: Newburg Boys & Girls Club, Christian Care Community Rehabilitation Center and ElderServe. —Kai Vaughn, Inclusion & Diversity Consultant, Humana

• “Our resource groups take the opportunity to educate Kellogg employees about Dr. King’s work via communications, newsletters, etc.” —Mark King, Chief Diversity Officer, Kellogg (No. 49 on the DiversityInc Top 50)

• “Progressive’s African American resource group PAAN plans a celebration for those who are working through a process we call ‘Celebration in a Box,’ which allows various groups using several formats to celebrate the occasion.” —Neil Lenane, Director of Employee Experience, Progressive Insurance

Special Dr. King & Black History Events

Almost 30 percent of companies host corporate events with guest speakers to discuss the significance of Dr. Martin Luther King, civil rights, diversity and inclusion, and Black History Month.

• “Wells Fargo buys local and national print-media advertising as well as radio spots to honor the life of Dr. King. A number of regions participate in MLK Day parades, breakfasts and other volunteer activities to support the communities where our team members live and work. In 2012, Wells Fargo served as the official financial-services-sector sponsor of the premiere of the George Lucas film Red Tails. With a special connection to the Tuskegee Airmen, Wells Fargo honored two of its retired Wells Fargo team members, Colonel George S. Roberts and Lieutenant James Walker.” —Jimmie Paschall, Executive Vice President, Enterprise Diversity & Inclusion, Wells Fargo, No. 33 on the DiversityInc Top 50

• “The North Shore–LIJ Health System has held an annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Program honoring Dr. King for the past 42 years. This year’s theme is ‘Living the Dream … the Next Generation.’ The program, hosted by the Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Health Literacy, is held in the auditorium of one of our larger hospitals and is also telecast to all of our sites (15 hospitals) through the Health System’s videoconferencing network. This year’s keynote speaker for the 43rd annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Program will be John Quiñones, Emmy Award–winning co-anchor of ABC’s Primetime and sole anchor of the series What Would You Do? … We also sponsor a Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Creative Arts Contest for the children of our employees. The winners are presented with prizes at the event.” —Barbara Felker, Vice President, Community and External Affairs, North Shore–Long Island Jewish Health System

• “We start our branded Black History Month celebration—”AT&T 28 Days”—every year on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It’s a six-week program with TV, radio, digital integration and live events in seven markets. This year, we will begin in Chicago on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We also have an annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration luncheon in Atlanta with prominent speakers that is open to the members of our 11 resource groups.” —Forrest Parrott, Executive Director – Internal Communications, AT&T

• “In 2012, Kellogg commemorated Dr. King’s legacy by being a sponsor of the Rainbow PUSH’s annual MLK Scholarship Breakfast in Chicago.” —Mark King, Chief Diversity Officer, Kellogg

• “Army and Airforce Exchange Service always has an official program during commemoration week with a guest speaker and display posters. Our guest speaker is Theron Bowman, Ph.D., Deputy City Manager, former Chief of Police, Arlington, Texas; Consultant, Nation Builder, Police Practices Expert, and Entrepreneur.” —Carlyn Houston, EEO Programs Specialist, EEO Diversity and Inclusion, Army and Airforce Exchange Service

Internal Office Communications

Approximately 21 percent of companies send messaging via emails, newsletters and/or corporate intranets to communicate the relevance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day to employees. Some companies, including Ernst & Young, pair these efforts with messaging about Black History Month as well.

• “Comcast and NBCUniversal have changed the homepage of our new corporate website to feature a compelling 1965 Meet The Press interview with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. During the interview, Dr. King discusses the march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., to help raise awareness of the difficulty faced by black voters in the South and the need for a Voting Rights Act, which passed later that year. Additional historic photos and videos from NBC News’ coverage of the civil-rights movement can be found within the story. Please share this link to help share an important piece of American history.” —Katie Lubenow, Senior Manager, Corporate Communications, Comcast (one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies)

• “Ernst & Young’s local offices/regions (and their associated BPNs) do a variety of communications in recognition of Black History Month. For example, last year our McLean BPN ran a series of profiles of black leaders. In addition, they ran a giveaway with complimentary tickets to see Red Tails, the movie based on the real-life heroics of the Tuskegee Airmen.” —Emily Lobel Kameros, Associate Director, Inclusiveness, Americas People Team, Ernst & Young

• “Marriott disseminates communications to our associates that advises them of local community-service opportunities, events and celebrations they can participate in to celebrate of this day of service.” —Maruiel Perkins-Chavis, Vice President, Workforce Effectiveness & Diversity, Marriott International

• “Humana produces an all-associate communication that informs associates of the work of Dr. MLK Jr. and how we at Humana can pay tribute through community service.” —Kai Vaughn, Inclusion & Diversity Consultant, Humana

• “Deloitte shares messages on our intranet and leaders send messages to their teams about the importance of remembering Dr. King.” —Wendy Berk, Senior Manager, Inclusion, Marketing and Communications, Deloitte (No. 8 in the DiversityInc Top 50)

• “Celebrations of Black history held during the month of February have, from time to time, commemorated the life and work of Dr. King. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois plans to post a tribute to Dr. King on our intranet site this year.” —Carolyn Clift, Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, Health Care Service Corporation (No. 19 in the DiversityInc Top 50), which operates Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois

• “McGraw-Hill proudly recognizes MLK Day as an official holiday and the offices are closed. We generally post an article or commentary on our intranet site.” —Terri D. Austin, Chief Diversity Officer, The McGraw-Hill Companies (one of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies)

 Additional Recognition & Charity Contributions

• “This year will be our 21st Peoria-local luncheon. Caterpillar was the first company to sponsor the luncheon financially. This year, we have Condoleezza Rice as our guest speaker and Caterpillar has not only generously provided financial contribution, but has two tables and is flying Dr. Rice into Peoria on the corporate jet.” —Alma Brown, Communications Representative, Caterpillar Inc.

• “The majority of Johnson & Johnson’s contribution efforts go toward the Frank R. Steele Scholarship Fund, set up by the H.O.N.O.R organization in 1984, that provides financial assistance through the Middlesex County College Foundation to African-American students studying for degrees in Business Administration and Science.” —Anthony Carter, Vice President, Global Diversity & Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer, Johnson & Johnson

• “Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois celebrates Martin Luther King Day as a corporate holiday.  All employees get the day off. Our Illinois headquarters building is illuminated on Martin Luther King Day with MLK [across the façade].” —Carolyn Clift, Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, Health Care Service Corporation

• “In Bentonville, Ark., Walmart sponsored the essay contest for local sixth graders where students reflected on Dr. King’s message of equality and discussed how they were living Dr. King’s dream.” —Donald Fan, Senior Director, Global Office of Diversity, Walmart

The post Dr. King & Civil Rights: How Walmart, AT&T & More Keep It Relevant appeared first on DiversityInc.

A.D. 2041 – End of White America?
Death Knell for the Silent Majority?

Question: Pat Buchanan‘s comments that “‘White America’ Died Last Night” make me angry. What do you think?

Answer: Don’t get angry; take solace in what we are witnessing. Buchanan is a bigot—a racist, anti-Semitic creep. He’s chronologically old, but he’s one of those people who was born a bitter, ugly, little, shrunken, mean, horrid old man.

His white America may have died, but my white America didn’t die with this election—it was strengthened and improved. My white America is the one of Thomas Payne, Franklin, Lincoln, Susan B. Anthony, Franklin D. Roosevelt , Eleanor Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson. My white America may not understand Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as it should, but it knows what side of the trajectory of justice it wants to be on.

My white America is an ongoing experiment in human dignity, freedom of thought and free will. It is evolving. It is struggling to improve itself. My white America knows the wisdom of Frederick Douglass, who said, “No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man, without at last finding the other end of it fastened about his own neck.”

My white America knows when it’s time to pick up a rifle and fight tyranny, even as it struggles with the desire to use the rifle in evil ways. My white America wants to see the time when we can put down the rifle for the last time.

My white America knows that its future is in becoming OUR AMERICA with no adjectives, embracing all, shouldered by those who are strong and caring for those who are weak.

Luke Visconti’s Ask the White Guy column is a top draw on DiversityInc.com. Visconti, the founder and CEO of DiversityInc, is a nationally recognized leader in diversity management. In his popular column, readers who ask Visconti tough questions about race/culture, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability and age can expect smart, direct and disarmingly frank answers.

The post Ask the White Guy: Did White America Die With This Election? appeared first on DiversityInc.

DiversityInc’s Luke Visconti was the keynote speaker at The Skanner Foundation’s 21st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast in Portland, Ore. More than 1,200 people attended:

What would King say?

Bernie Foster built a bridge by asking me to speak at this event–a white publisher invited by a black publisher to speak to an audience about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It’s quite an honor.

Bernie and I met at another event where I was discussing “the business case for diversity.” That the business case for diversity is a reality and not just a theory is directly due to Dr. King and the civil-rights era.

The business case for diversity is based on two factors: changing demographics and corresponding changes in economic power.

In Dr. King’s time, there were roughly nine white people for every one person of color in our country. Immigration had ended in the late 1920s and would not resume until the mid-1960s, so our racial demographics were relatively stable. African Americans were our largest demographic of people of color, and access to college and corporate America did not exist for them. Most African Americans did not even have the right to vote.

Shifting Demographics

Today we live in an era of more immigration per capita than any time in American history. For Americans under 40 years old, there are less than 1.5 white people for every person of color. White people will probably be the minority by 2040.

People of color are increasing educational attainment more quickly than their rise as a percent in our population. Households of color are increasing their household income at more than double the rate of white households–and have been doing so since 1990.

In essence, people of color are our country’s engine of growth. When you factor demographic changes with household-income changes, people of color have an eightfold higher growth rate than white people.

This has caused a group of companies to take notice and become more progressive. My company runs a competition once a year to determine The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity. This year more than 600 companies asked for a survey, and we expect over 350 to compete–participation is up over 100 percent from three years ago.

We ask over 230 questions on four areas: CEO Commitment, Human Capital, Supplier Diversity and Corporate Communications. Just so you know, there is no connection between our list and business conducted with my company. The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies are very different than typical companies. For example:

• Although they employ 5 percent of the work force, they employ 17 percent of college-educated people of color
• They hire 43 percent people of color even though the U.S. work force is only 28 percent people of color
• 7.5 percent of their procurement budget is spent with minority- and women’s-business enterprises. The national average is 2 percent.

And perhaps the most important business indicator, the DiversityInc Top 50, expressed as a stock index, outperforms the DJIA, Nasdaq and S&P 500.

What this tells you is not that diversity is driving stock price, but that diversity is a core management practice of superior companies. It also tells you that diversity brings sustainability to a company. The numbers show that companies which have diversity in their DNA will dominate competitors which do not.

Despite the compelling business case, 80 percent of the Fortune 1000 does not practice diversity management. By diversity management, I mean disciplined, measured, accountable management–not just Mexican food in the cafeteria on May 5.

Why the lack of attention? Most corporations are run by straight, able-bodied white men. The luxury of being in the majority culture is never having to think about race.

Now that doesn’t make all white people bad. Some of my best friends are white and they’re OK. But being in the majority makes most white people oblivious, and we miss a lot of opportunities because of that. For example, the median worth of a black household is one-tenth that of a white household, and at the current rate of closure, it will take 1000 years for black households to catch up.

However, if you caught black household wealth up to the median of white households today, it would be like injecting the entire gross domestic product of Japan into our economy–over 4 trillion dollars. How many houses, office buildings, schools, cars, plasma TVs would we have to build with all that new capital in our economy?

So, who is being hurt most by this kind of a program not being implemented at once? White people. Why? There’s more of us.

If the facts are so clear, why are a minority of companies practicing diversity management? Why isn’t there an emergency program to enable black households to build wealth?

One reason is that we all have counter-productive human tendencies, like the feeling that if another group gets something, we’ll lose something–this is called the zero-sum argument. It works when we’re all hunting antelope in the jungle with spears. If the other tribe gets the antelope, our tribe goes hungry. However, zero-sum doesn’t work in an economic model as you can see with just this one household-wealth example.

There’s another reason for a lack of progress: People will do a lot to avoid feeling guilty. To look at our society and effect programs to build an equitable situation would cause us white people to really look at ourselves more clearly. It’s far easier to blame the victim.

But let’s look more closely at the cost of disparities. If you believe that all people are created equally, then you have to assume that talent is also distributed equally. Unfortunately, we can tell by graduation rates that a vastly disproportionate percent of the black and brown talent in this country is dashed on the rocks of a poorly funded public-school system. This can be fixed, but it would require a huge commitment of resources.

In his August 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech, Dr. King spoke of our country’s obligation to live up to the promises made by our founders–that “black men as well as white men would be guaranteed the ‘unalienable Rights’ of ‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’”

He spoke of a check that had been returned marked “insufficient funds.” He did that before he got to the often-taken-out-of-context parts like “my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

The “I Have a Dream” speech isn’t about being colorblind; it’s about the obligation that had to be paid before our society could move forward together.

The check still hasn’t cleared. Have we cashed other checks? Is it worth it to pay this long overdue bill, or should we continue to ignore the knocking at the door? Let’s look to history.

Following World War II and Korea, millions of veterans went to college for free on the GI Bill. Due to the implementation of this program, white veterans disproportionately benefited, so let’s focus on white people. Before WWII, less than 7 percent of white people attended college. Today, 44 percent of white people attend college. Our country’s workers went from industrial and agrarian employment to knowledge-worker employment. The corresponding generation of wealth from white people working to the true extent of their potential was unprecedented in human history.

I think you can make the case that the $4 trillion in missing black household wealth is a drop in the bucket compared to what we’re sacrificing to maintain a society of “them” and “us.”

This is where it gets scary for our country.

White people will be the minority by 2040 in this country; however, 75 percent of the planet is already not white. The elimination of information barriers–most importantly the Internet–has liberated the talents of billions of people world wide. The Chinese now have as many people on the Internet as we have citizens–and they are building colleges faster than any country on the planet. People in India can call the U.S. for less money than it costs for us to call them.

Talent can now flow from where it is to where it is best treated. There are six billion people on the planet and only 300 million Americans. Unleashing the talent of formerly oppressed Americans has made our market robust. As the world’s formerly oppressed people have been able to exercise the talent they were born with, the global economy is surging. Investors in this country have already reacted. According to the current issue of Barron’s magazine, an amazing 90 percent of inflows to mutual funds went offshore in 2006.

By non-violent protest, Dr. King forced our federal government to action in the 1960s. I don’t think you can say that Washington is any more visionary today. Last June, my magazine ran a story in our Top 50 Companies for Diversity issue titled “The Worst Company for Diversity? The United States Senate,” which described the almost total lack of diversity in key senate staff positions. In that article we ran a photograph of the Alito hearings. Out of roughly 300 people in the room, there wasn’t a single black person. Not one.

In this environment of malignant neglect, there is a concerted effort in this country to enter a new era of oppression.

Bigots like Linda Chavez and Roger Clegg of the Center for Equal Opportunity along with sad souls like Ward Connerly are actively working against affirmative action and diversity. They say we should be “colorblind”–that all things are equal and affirmative action is wrong. They have worked to end affirmative action in California, Texas and Florida and most recently in Michigan, where the recently passed “Civil Rights” initiative eliminated affirmative action.

Their arguments disregard the lasting effects of racism and ignore the obvious disparities in our society. The fact is that we don’t have a colorblind society. It takes the blinders of the majority or the deception of evil people to not deal with the obvious:

• A colorblind society would not have more segregation in schools today than ever before in our history.

• A colorblind society wouldn’t foster a prison industrial complex and incarcerate people disproportionately by race–and have highest incarceration rate per thousand in the world, even surpassing the former record in the Soviet Union.

• A colorblind society would have rebuilt New Orleans by now.

• A colorblind society would understand that not having universal healthcare is the equivalent of wealth redistribution–from poor to wealthy.

• A colorblind society would have 50 percent women senators and roughly 28 percent senators who are people of color.

• A colorblind society would have equal rights for both straight people and gay people.

• A colorblind society would keep track of Iraqi civilian deaths as carefully as we’ve tracked our own soldiers’ deaths.

• A colorblind society with the mightiest military in human history wouldn’t stand by as 2 million people are herded to their execution in Darfur.

• A colorblind society would understand that “unalienable rights” were not limited in our Constitution only for those with the right documents.

• A colorblind society would not allow admissions to public colleges to be determined by tests which have different results by race, like the SATs.

• A colorblind society will have an equal chance of a white publisher inviting a black publisher to speak about America.

Ward Connerly and Linda Chavez are well funded and working nationwide. They have attacked affirmative action at the state level and have attacked diversity programs at the corporate and university levels. Be aware. Dr. King taught us that we have the obligation to forthrightly address the practices that preserve racism. For more on affirmative action, read “Why We Still Need Affirmative Action.”

We also have the obligation to act.

Vote your ethics. Most eligible people of color are either not registered or do not vote. The reality is that your elected officials look at who votes and portion their attention accordingly.

Be careful about who you do business with and work for. Reward companies that share your vision.

Become financially literate. Build your family wealth through homeownership.

Read other accounts on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Before MLK, None of My Accomplishments Would Have Been Possible
DiversityInc’s Denyse Leslie, senior vice president of consulting, draws a parallel between Dr. King’s firsts (first arrest, first book published, first Black man to win the Nobel Peace Prize) and the firsts of Blacks still alive (or recently deceased) as they live out Dr. King’s vision.

Taking Risks for Your Brothers: The Power of Martin Luther King’s Words
Human-rights activist Raymond Brown learned about the need for humanity from Dr. King.

Civil-Rights Progress: Helping LGBT Youth
GLSEN’s Executive Director Dr. Eliza Byard notes how Dr. King’s message that Black people would eventually reach the promised land is a reminder today that progress, no matter how slow, is crucial.

How Has Dr. King’s Legacy Changed Lives?
While Hurricane Irene hit during the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial dedication, R. Fenimore Fisher reflected on how Dr. King’s actions changed the law that changed society.

The post What Dr. King Really Meant: The Obligation That Benefits Everyone appeared first on DiversityInc.

Last year, on Martin Luther King Day, more than 6,400 Kaiser Permanente employees and physicians worked on projects in close to 100 community sites across the country, serving approximately 17,925 people. Captured in this video, Kaiser Permanente volunteers provided valuable services throughout the nation in honor of Dr. King’s legacy.

On Martin Luther King Day this year, as in years past, Kaiser Permanente’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, George Halvorson, along with Bernard Tyson, president and chief operating officer, and Jack Cochran, MD, executive director of The Permanente Federation, are distributing hundreds of coats to people in need at City Team Ministries in Oakland. City Team Ministries provides hot meals and safe shelter to Oakland’s underserved populations. The organization also provides medical care to the needy, operates a recovery program, provides clothing for disadvantaged families, and offers recreational and spiritual programs for children.

“For more than 65 years, Kaiser Permanente has had a rich history of service that is at the heart of our mission to improve the lives of our members and the communities we serve,” said Raymond J. Baxter, PhD, senior vice president, Community Benefit, Research and Healthy Policy for Kaiser Permanente. “Today, one of the biggest challenges facing the nation is the economy. By committing to a day of service, Kaiser Permanente will help serve thousands of people who are in need. The most important part of this work is remembering to serve our communities throughout the year, not just on this National Day of Service.”

In addition to the coat drive in Oakland, Kaiser Permanente employees and physicians will volunteer at service sites in communities throughout the nine states, and the District of Columbia, that Kaiser Permanente serves. Among the projects are:

.    In San Jose, Calif., Kaiser Permanente volunteers will help Ocala Middle School create a new and improved school culture with anti-bullying, health and fitness messages. Volunteers will work on various projects including interior painting in the locker rooms, cafeteria and library, exterior painting of the school building, painting a mural, building new planter beds in the school’s educational garden, and planting native California plants around the school.

.    In Oregon, Kaiser Permanente employees are teaming up with the Oregon Food Bank to sort and repackage food. The Oregon Food Bank recovers food from farmers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers, individuals and government sources and distributes it to 20 regional food banks across Oregon.

.    Kaiser Permanente employees in Colorado are working with the PROJECT for Commission on Urgent Relief and Equipment to sort medical supplies, paint warehouse walls, build shelving and organize biomedical equipment.

.    In Southern California, Kaiser Permanente employees are providing health screenings during the San Gabriel Valley NAACP’s Martin Luther King Day Informational Fair held at the West Covina Civic Center.

.    Kaiser Permanente employees in Hawaii are teaming up with Ka Hale A Ke Ola Homeless Resource Centers, Inc., a homeless shelter founded in 1986, to paint the exterior of the emergency and transitional shelters and housing units throughout the center’s 5-acre campus.

.    In Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., Kaiser Permanente employees in partnership with the United Way of the National Capital Area, are teaming up to provide free health screenings.

.    In Ohio, Kaiser Permanente employees are partnering with Haven of Rest, an organization dedicated to providing palliative care, caregiver support and bereavement services throughout Northern Ohio. Volunteers will sort donated clothing and help serve meals to shelter residents.

.    Employees in Georgia are teaming up with Hosea Feed The Hungry and Homeless, founded in 1971. An international aid organization, Hosea Feed The Hungry and Homeless aims to rescue, restore and re-stabilize at-risk and homeless individuals and families so they can thrive and become self-sufficient. Kaiser Permanente employees will be hosting a dinner at the Georgia International Convention Center.

For more about Kaiser Permanente’s efforts in the community year-round, visit: kp.org/communitybenefit.     

About Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We serve approximately 8.9 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.

The post Thousands of Kaiser Permanente Employees and Physicians to Honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. appeared first on DiversityInc.

Brown works in the litigation department at Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith and Davis and is chair of its White Collar Defense & Corporate Compliance Practice Group. He is an expert on global human rights. Brown will speak at DiversityInc’s April 24–25 diversity conference, Managing the Global War for Talent.           

It was the first time a secular speech gave me chills. The details of the precise Manhattan venue and my age (13 to 15) have faded. I do, however, recall the context.

I was a child of what we called the “movement.” My dad had taken me to hear Dr. King speak in the context of the struggle with the conservative leadership of the NAACP. (Although my dad was president of Jersey City NAACP, he was not on their side in this fight. In fact, when a national news magazine asked him on the eve of the 1963 March on Washington if he thought NAACP Executive Director Roy Wilkins was asleep at the switch, he had replied, “Hell, Roy doesn’t even know where the switch is.”)

I don’t recall every minute of King’s speech except the talismanic words and phrases … “justice … freedom … the redemptive power of unmerited suffering”—and the chills. I did know that this was an argument over direct action and protest in the movement, an argument on which King prevailed.

For more on the power of words as tools to combat hateful speech, read “NBA Star John Amaechi: Hate Speech Goes Beyond N- and F-Words.” For more on dispelling stereotypes, read “‘Blacks Should Not Be Satisfied With Food Stamps’: The Danger of Stereotypes.”

Years later, however, I trailed silently behind my dad the night before the march when the “old heads,” led by the eminence grise and father of the march, A. Phillip Randolph, prevailed upon John Lewis and others not to denounce King as irrelevant and the march itself as “too little too late.” Since that August, my stomach has turned as the forces of reaction and revision have used the phrase “content of their character” to convert King into a prophet of post-racialism.

But it’s not a parlor game to say that King believed in “human rights.” He was championing the subject just 20 years after the concept was born and long before it gained its current traction. Much of the conversation about his “Mountaintop” speech at Mason Temple the night before his assassination has missed this point and mistakenly emphasized his Mosaic premonition of death.

King used the Mason Temple moment to defend himself against those who charged him with sullying the banner of civil rights by defending underpaid garbage workers in Memphis. His response was that he was living in a time of the “Human Rights Revolution” and he would support people from Johannesburg to Memphis who were “rising” to demand freedom and justice.

His text that night was the parable of the Good Samaritan. He argued that the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was “really conducive” to ambushing because of the height of the bordering dunes. He emphasized that in leaving the road to offer rescue, the Samaritan was responding to the call of a “man of another race,” thereby projecting the “I” into “thou” and taking risks for his “brother.”

“If I do not stop to help with man, what will happen to him? … If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?”

In this century, my wife, Wanda, and I journeyed from teaching in Egypt to take up the implicit challenge in King’s speech and walk that road. The dunes are still there; there is still a risk in leaving that road. The decision to venture out is no less burdened with complex considerations of gender, race, class, religion and ethnicity than it ever was before. And when I think of my dad, King, John Lewis and thousands of others, from Jersey City to Darfur, who choose to take that chance and leave the road and risk the dunes, sometimes with eloquence and sometimes in silence—I still get those chills.

Read other accounts on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Before MLK, None of My Accomplishments Would Have Been Possible
DiversityInc’s Denyse Leslie, senior vice president of consulting, draws a parallel between Dr. King’s firsts (first arrest, first book published, first Black man to win the Nobel Peace Prize) and the firsts of Blacks still alive (or recently deceased) as they live out Dr. King’s vision.

Civil-Rights Progress: Helping LGBT Youth
GLSEN’s Executive Director Dr. Eliza Byard notes how Dr. King’s message that Black people would eventually reach the promised land is a reminder today that progress, no matter how slow, is crucial.

How Has Dr. King’s Legacy Changed Lives?
While Hurricane Irene hit during the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial dedication, R. Fenimore Fisher reflected on how Dr. King’s actions changed the law that changed society.

What Dr. King Really Meant: The Obligation That Benefits Everyone
Why is the business case for diversity a reality and not just a theory? It is directly due to Dr. King and the civil-rights era, explains DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti.

Watch Raymond Brown speak on human rights and segregation. For more on Black History and the civil-rights movement, read “Discover America′s Black History” and “Re-Centering the History in Black History.”

The post Taking Risks for Your Brothers: The Power of Dr. King’s Words appeared first on DiversityInc.

By Dr. Eliza Byard

Dr. Byard is the executive director of GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network.

As we head into this long weekend in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the family of Robert Champion is mourning his death and suing those they hold responsible for their wrongful loss. Champion was a drum major for Florida A&M’s Marching 100, who died in the wake of a hazing ritual on a band bus on Nov. 19, 2011. Friends and family say Champion was gay, and GLSEN’s great partner the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) is calling for a U.S. Justice Department investigation into whether his death was a hate crime. The emergence of this story into national prominence on the eve of Dr. King’s holiday seems tragically inevitable—although troublingly overdue.

Dr. King’s very last sermon, delivered in 1968, was a meditation on “the Drum Major Instinct”: a desire to lead, to be first, to be praised and to make a mark on the world. (You can find the full text of this sermon here [along with the audio file, if you really want to give yourself goose bumps].) Dr. King argued that we all have this instinct, which can be rightfully condemned when it leads to destructive, selfish behavior. But it is a natural instinct, Dr. King went on, present in everyone, that can be the source of great change and true greatness when it is harnessed through service and love. Contemplating his own legacy in the sermon’s conclusion (eerily close to the hour of his own assassination), Dr. King said, “If you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness.”

Robert Champion was, in fact, an actual drum major in one of the celebrated marching bands of the HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities). Friends and family say that he was a crusader against the hazing that is such a central and dangerous part of the marching-band experience at HBCUs. His own success as a leader within the band was a testament to the possibility that one could rise through the ranks without submitting to the degrading rituals invented by band leaders to test emerging candidates. Champion was, apparently, in line to become head drum major for the Marching 100. And he was gay. Today, a painful set of inquiries seek to determine what role each of these factors played in the intense beating that led to his death.

Champion sought to be a leader and to lead the way to a more just system within the band by resisting violent and artificial rituals. A drum major for justice. A central purpose of our work at GLSEN from the beginning—and a pillar of our current strategic plan—is to support emerging student leaders and to ensure that leadership opportunities throughout the K–12 school years are open to all students, whether they are straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual and/or transgender. And we seek to break the cycle of learned hatred and violence directed at LGBT people that some of Champion’s fellow students may have channeled into the beating that led to his death. Each year, we meet and support a new group of emerging Drum Majors for Justice who decide to channel their instinct into GSA leadership or other acts of brave service, some as simple as staying silent on the Day of Silence or speaking out during Ally Week or expressing their aspirations for a better future through artistic expression during No Name-Calling Week.

Read “Safe LGBT Spaces: What Schools Can Learn From Employee-Resource Groups” for more on increasing inclusion for LGBT in schools.

Before you head off for the weekend, take a moment to sign NBJC’s petition (at www.nbjc.org) so that the facts regarding Robert Champion’s will come to light. And take a moment to reflect on the work and leadership of the remarkable students whose efforts we support, and whose work is going to change the world.

Read other accounts on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Before MLK, None of My Accomplishments Would Have Been Possible
DiversityInc’s Denyse Leslie, senior vice president of consulting, draws a parallel between Dr. King’s firsts (first arrest, first book published, first Black man to win the Nobel Peace Prize) and the firsts of Blacks still alive (or recently deceased) as they live out Dr. King’s vision.

Taking Risks for Your Brothers: The Power of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Words
Human-rights activist Raymond Brown learned about the need for humanity from Dr. King.

How Has Dr. King’s Legacy Changed Lives?
While Hurricane Irene hit during the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial dedication, R. Fenimore Fisher reflected on how Dr. King’s actions changed the law that changed society.

What Dr. King Really Meant: The Obligation That Benefits Everyone
Why is the business case for diversity a reality and not just a theory? It is directly due to Dr. King and the civil-rights era, explains DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti.

For more on Black History and the civil-rights movement, read “Discover America′s Black History” and “Re-Centering the History in Black History.”

The post Civil-Rights Progress: Helping LGBT Youth appeared first on DiversityInc.

R. Fenimore Fisher is the managing partner of the R. Fenimore Fisher Group, a global diversity and inclusion and labor-conflict resolution consultancy firm. Prior to that, Fisher served as vice president of diversity and employment analysis for Wal-Mart Stores and as executive director of the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Wall Street Project in New York.

In my living room hangs a framed issue of the New York Daily News from March 10, 1965, entitled “Selma March Rolled Back … They Yield to Troopers.” Hurricane Irene left extensive flood and wind damage along its path through the Caribbean, the United States and Canada in 2011. Irene just happened to put in an appearance during the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial dedication, the effects of which I began noticing during the civil-rights luncheon. As I listened to individuals such as Martin Luther King III, Julian Bond and Rev. Jesse Jackson, I began to reflect upon that framed newspaper back home in Jersey.

Specific to the topic of how Dr. King’s legacy changed lives, what strikes me the most is not his legacy but his direct actions. The front page of the newspaper has a photograph of Dr. King flanked by Methodist Bishop John Wesley Lord and CORE director James Farmer as they are leading a march fighting for the right to vote. Dr. King’s actions changed the law that changed society. Our lives would be dramatically different if there had not been this very focused approach of combining appealing to people’s consciences along with direct confrontation of an inequitable justice system. While listening to remarks and hearing thunder take over the acoustics of the convention center’s massive hall, I couldn’t help but be reflective. Just after trying to figure out how to handle an earthquake, now we have a hurricane all during the memorial dedication.

Dr. King once said, “An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.” This has so much application to our lives today. Further, it is the absence of laws such as a national approach to confronting the volatile effects of bullying in schools, a lack of basic cultural competence among our leaders who still make horrific lapses by using blatant stereotypes in remarks and global inequities and persecutions that show us that Dr. King’s model of social justice has significant relevance today.

Many people like to speculate on what Dr. King would be focused on if he were alive today. I won’t do that. I’ll only go as far to say, after glancing again at the picture in the Daily News where Andrew Young is standing protectively in front of Dr. King in Selma, that he would be focused on action that drives us to fight for the most basic of human rights. He built a movement that literally impacted the entire world. He was such an innovator showing us over 50 years ago the power of inclusion. He changed our lives individually by changing the law but also left an imprint on society, showing it how to perform at its best when we view each other through unfiltered lenses.

Read other accounts on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Before MLK, None of My Accomplishments Would Have Been Possible
DiversityInc’s Denyse Leslie, senior vice president of consulting, draws a parallel between Dr. King’s firsts (first arrest, first book published, first Black man to win the Nobel Peace Prize) and the firsts of Blacks still alive (or recently deceased) as they live out Dr. King’s vision.

Taking Risks for Your Brothers: The Power of Martin Luther King’s Words
Human-rights activist Raymond Brown learned about the need for humanity from Dr. King.

Civil-Rights Progress: Helping LGBT Youth
GLSEN’s Executive Director Dr. Eliza Byard notes how Dr. King’s message that Black people would eventually reach the promised land is a reminder today that progress, no matter how slow, is crucial.

What Dr. King Really Meant: The Obligation That Benefits Everyone
Why is the business case for diversity a reality and not just a theory? It is directly due to Dr. King and the civil-rights era, explains DiversityInc CEO Luke Visconti.

For more on Black History and the civil-rights movement, read “Discover America′s Black History” and “Re-Centering the History in Black History.”

The post How Has Dr. King’s Legacy Changed Lives? appeared first on DiversityInc.

Question:
Mr. King: “… not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

The White Guy, in an answer to a previous question: “… you’ll see (DiversityInc) primarily focus on race and gender.”

Comments, please.

Answer:
I’m glad this question came up today. I celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King’s holiday yesterday in Portland, Ore. Bernie Foster, publisher of The Skanner newspaper, invited me to be the keynote speaker at his Dr. Martin Luther King Day Celebration. There were more than 1,200 people in the audience, including one of Oregon’s senators, a congressman, the governor and Portland’s mayor. My speech focused on the work left undone by the civil-rights era and the potential our country has squandered by not making that investment. I leveraged the misuse of Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech to make my points.

Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech is often taken out of context to promote a “color-blind” world. If you read the entire speech, he begins by telling us that the Constitution and Declaration of Independence promised that “black men as well as white men would be guaranteed the ‘unalienable Rights’ of ‘Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’”

He explained that this obligation had not been fulfilled and “instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds.’”

Dr. King makes it clear that he is telling us that we don’t get to the “color-blind” vision of “my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” until we have made good on our obligation.

The check has not yet cleared the bank. We do not have a “color-blind” society. If we did, we would have equitable representation in all aspects of our society. Fifty percent women senators, for example, or 10 percent gay and out Fortune 500 CEOs, etc. Certainly black households would not have one-tenth the wealth of white households.

The beauty of solving this problem is that making good on our obligation is not an expense, it is an investment. Our country has made many kinds of investments in people. Here’s one example:

Following World War II and Korea, millions of veterans were able to go college for free on the GI Bill. Due to the implementation of this program, white veterans disproportionately benefited, so let’s focus on white people. Before WWII, less than 7 percent of white people attended college. Today, 44 percent of white people attend college. Our country’s workers went from industrial and agrarian employment to knowledge-worker employment. The corresponding generation of wealth from white people working to the true extent of their potential was unprecedented in human history.

In business and in our society in general, history shows us that we can expect dramatic and disproportionately positive returns on investment by enabling the success of those people who have been prevented from achieving their human potential by discrimination, bigotry and racism.

As I’ve said, the most obvious disparities in our society involve race and gender; however, I also consider age, orientation and disability to be significant vectors of discrimination that still exist in our society.

The post What Dr. King Really Meant–The Check Has Not Yet Cleared the Bank appeared first on DiversityInc.