Two recent studies in medical journals build on the mounting evidence: Food and drink makers are funding their own research studies that (not surprisingly) fail to reveal the health risks from their products that have been repeatedly proven elsewhere. At the same time, these companies are coming up with creative corporate-responsibility campaigns that hide the risks of empty calories behind campaigns for wellness, exercise, and support of Black and Latino communities—the very ones that would benefit most from replacing processed food with fresh choices.

Nowhere is the impact of corporate muscle more evident than in New York City, where 58 percent of adults are overweight or obese, with that rate reaching 70 percent in Black, Latino and low-income communities—and where Mayor Michael Bloomberg has faced a barrage of criticism for his plan to ban the sale of soft drinks larger than 16 oz. Organizations like the NAACP—which has a goal to eradicate health disparities—has sued to block the law, claiming it will hurt minority-owned small businesses (not to mention the effect the ban will have on the NAACP’s deep-pocketed corporate sponsors). The federal government has been asked to step in, but so far nothing’s happened.

It’s not all bad news from corporate America. Some health-based organizations take a direct approach to bringing healthy food to communities they serve. Kaiser Permanente has had Community Health Initiatives since 2004—with strategies such as supporting a weekly farmers market in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood (where 98 percent of residents are Black or Latino) beginning to show results; and a commitment to provide healthier food to Kaiser’s own employees and patients. Kaiser Permanente and Time Warner’s HBO have also funded the documentary series The Weight of the Nation, shown on HBO last spring but now available free online.

Kaiser Permanente is No. 3 in the DiversityInc Top 50, and Time Warner is No. 40.

The post Why Are So Many Blacks & Latinos Fat? Research From Manufacturers Hides the Truth appeared first on DiversityInc.

“While we are glad that Gov. Romney recognized the power of the Black electorate, he laid out an agenda that was antithetical to many of our interests,” said NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous in a statement. He particularly noted Romney’s stance to eliminate President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, legislation that could potentially improve gaps in racial inequities in healthcare. 

NAACP Chairman Roslyn M. Brock made similar statements, adding Romney’s opposing viewpoints on education reform and marriage equality, but she noted that the NAACP “appreciate[s] that he … took the opportunity to speak with us directly.” 

During his speech, Romney received moments of applause on economic matters but was booed at length three times by audience members: when he announced he would fight to repeal the Affordable Care Act; when he said Obama hasn’t done enough for the economy; and when he said he would be the president to improve the lives of Blacks, according to a report by ABC News. 

Romney told news sources during a post-event interview that he had expected the strong negative reactions: “I am going to give the same message to the NAACP that I give across the country, which is that Obamacare is killing jobs, and if jobs is the priority, then we’re going to have to replace it with something that actually holds down healthcare costs, as opposed to causing more spending for the government and more spending for American families.” 

Vice President Joe Biden also addressed the NAACP, offering a rebuttal to Romney. He defended Obama and highlighted how working families would rather suffer under more conservative policies from a Romney administration, in particular those of the Black community. 

Biden called NAACP members to action: “I believe this election will come down to character, conviction and vision. And it will not surprise you—I don’t think it’s even a close call … time for the NAACP to do what it’s always done … To stand up. Make our case. Stand our ground. And make real our vision for America.”

The speech follows suit with Biden’s address earlier this week at the annual National Council of La Raza (NCLR) conference. Both Romney and Obama were invited to speak at the event, but neither candidate attended. Romney sent his top Latino adviser, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.  

Gutierrez, however, was not able to speak at the conference. The Romney campaign did not respond to NCLR leaders in time, and they “were no longer accepting surrogate speakers on the schedule” when the RSVP was received. 

NCLR leaders say Romney’s declined attendance was a “missed opportunity to work with a key organization that is connected to Latino voters from across the country,” NCLR President and CEO Janet Murguía told VOXXI.

For more on diversity and inclusion issues, read:

Ask the White Guy: What Is Wrong With the Federal Government?

Ask the White Guy: Why Are Disparities in Income Distribution Increasing?

Diversity & Inclusion Milestone: More Than Half of U.S. Babies Are Black, Latino & Asian

What Dr. King Really Meant: The Obligation That Benefits Everyone

Diversity & Inclusion Means Zero Tolerance for Bullying

The post NAACP: Romney Shows ‘Fundamental Misunderstanding’ of Blacks’ Needs appeared first on DiversityInc.

What should you do if one of your executives uses a negative stereotype, especially in a public forum? How can you make sure your workplace doesn’t tolerate these types of damaging misconceptions, which impact morale and productivity? Learn a lesson from recent verbal missteps by presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum and see what Dr. Claude Steele advises you to do.

Gingrich announced that “If the NAACP invites me, I’ll go to their convention and talk about why the African-American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied cultural competence with food stamps.”

NAACP President and CEO Ben Jealous called the statement “inaccurate and divisive.”

Santorum said at a campaign stop in Iowa: “I don’t want to make Black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money.” After getting national criticism for the remark, he said he was “pretty confident that I didn’t say ‘Black,’” but the video shows that he did indeed say that. Watch the video.

Dr. Steele, dean of education at Stanford University and former provost of Columbia University, is the author of “Whistling Vivaldi: And Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us.” Dr. Steele, who analyzed these stereotypes at a DiversityInc event, told us that statements like these have long-term impact on workplace engagement and productivity. Watch the video.

“As my work has taught me and illustrates, stereotypes are not innocent or easily ignorable. They create pressures on people to see others in those stereotypes and degrade the quality of life for people who are stereotyped. They have a profound effect of creating discomforts that are attached to our identities,” he said. “Politicians resort to reinforcing old stereotypes about groups because it gives people belief that these things still are true … it creates a sense of social reality. Even though Obama’s the president, it keeps them alive.”

What would he recommend you do if someone in your organization perpetuated a stereotype? Be true to your values. “If I were leading an organization and this happened, if the opportunity arose in a naturalistic way, I’d condemn it and say this is something to be ashamed of. That’s what happened in the civil-rights movement; I’m old enough to remember when you could use the N-word in Congress, and that’s not acceptable anymore,” Dr. Steele said. 

For more on clarity of values, read CEO Commitment: Why Visibility & Accountability Matter and Why Julie Goodridge Might Be the Scariest Person in Investment Banking. Also read Ask the White Guy: Decision Making, Clarity of Values & What to Do When It Goes Horribly Wrong.

The real danger, Claude emphasized, is in people accepting these stereotypes. “These people are dangerously trafficking in stereotypes and making this a normative behavior. That’s what happens eventually; behavior shifts and these are no longer the norm,” Dr. Steele said.

And people often accept these statements without checking the facts. For example, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, offers food stamps. PolitiFact says participation is high, but that’s because of efforts since the Bush administration to increase participation. The largest group of SNAP recipients is white people, and most SNAP participants are younger than 18.

Facts are important in diversity work and in destroying stereotypes. Here are some diversity-management lessons demonstrated by companies in the DiversityInc Top 50 to address stereotypes in your organization. 

Ensure Diversity Training Is Mandatory

Seventy-eight percent of the DiversityInc Top 50 require mandatory cultural-competence training for their managers, and 66 percent require it for their entire workforce. While one can’t regulate what comes out of an employee’s mouth, teaching people about the need for respectful speech, as well as what type of speech is hateful, goes a long way to avoiding these types of hurtful communications.

Former NBA star John Amaechi addressed the power of hateful words recently when he keynoted DiversityInc’s special-awards ceremony. Read highlights from John Ameachi’s speech and watch the video.

Get the Message Out Externally and Internally, Starting at the Top

From your CEO’s statement on diversity (which should be on your corporate homepage) to your mission statement to all your external and internal communications, the message of respect and inclusion has to be clear and constant. Allowing any stereotypes for any group, including white men, to be perpetuated in any way by your company opens the door for these kinds of comments. A no-tolerance-for-disrespect policy, from the highest ranks of the company on down, must be clearly and consistently articulated.

Mandate Cross-Cultural Mentoring—Allow Senior Leadership to ‘Walk in Others’ Shoes’

Formal, cross-cultural mentoring relationships enable people from different backgrounds to really get to know each other and enhance cultural awareness, especially for senior, white, male executives. The one-on-one nature of the relationship, both studies and DiversityInc data show, are critical to that increased knowledge. Progressively more companies also require both mentors and mentees to undergo cultural-competence training before beginning the formal mentoring arrangement. Ninety-four percent of DiversityInc Top 50 companies now have formal, cross-cultural mentoring programs.

Expose CEOs and Senior Executives to Different Employees Through ERGs

Ninety percent of DiversityInc Top 50 CEOs now meet regularly with leaders of employee-resource groups. That connection, one shared by other senior executives, is invaluable in developing understanding of the group’s constituencies. For more on the positive effects of CEO commitment on talent development, read Increasing Diversity in Talent Development.

Related stories/videos:

The G.O.P.’s ‘Black People’ Platform
New York Times’ op-ed columnist Charles M. Blow comments on and debunks the rhetoric from GOP candidates Santorum and Gingrich and how they play on existing racial anxieties.

Gay, Black Aide Defends Santorum
One of Santorum’s former aides, Chris Matthews, a Black and openly gay man, defends the candidate. Here’s what he said.

NAACP Blasts Santorum for Targeting Blacks in Entitlement Reform
A CBS news video shows Rick Santorum’s comments that single out Blacks as recipients of federal benefits. The NAACP says his remarks are “inaccurate and outrageous,” while Santorum denies he said “Black.”

NAACP Leader Blasts Gingrich’s Food Stamp Comment
Gingrich’s comments, as shown in a CBS news video, positions Blacks and other traditionally non-represented groups as jobless people relying on food stamps. NAACP refutes the inaccuracies and Gingrich denies his remarks were racist.

Newt Gingrich ‘Irritated’ By Outrage Over His Comments On Food Stamps
A Black person, Yvan Lamothe, speaks up to Gingrich at the candidate’s town hall in New Hampshire, and Gingrich aims to clarify his original remarks.

Black Woman Confronts Santorum Over Comments: ‘Why Do You Have A Problem Against Black People?’
At a campaign event in New Hampshire, a Black woman confronted Santorum on his racist remarks. A Think Progress post provides an audio recording and a photo of the exchange.

Why Santorum’s Comment Isn’t Racist
An article on The Root calls attention to how the comments take root in a deeper fear by GOP members to discuss issues of race and truly connect with Black voters.

Rick Santorum To John King: I Didn’t Say Black People, I Said ‘Blah’ People
What did you hear Santorum say? “Blah,” “Black” or something else? Mediaite.com offers readers a “What Did You Hear Rick Santorum Say?” poll and a video from the candidate’s appearance on John King USA where he tries to defend his statements.

Did Newt Gingrich really say Blacks should “demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps”?
Gingrich said that his comments aren’t racially charged if you look at them in context. Metro posts the full text of what he said for readers.

Rick Santorum, Racist—It’s a Lie
National Review blog defends Santorum, saying he did not say “Blacks” and upholding that he is not a racist but honest about data facts in American populations.

The Slanders Against Santorum Clarify the Real Conflict
This blog defends Santorum, saying NPR and leftists “manufactured a controversy” to slander “a man who’s one of the nation’s leading advocates for rebuilding African-American families.”

Sarah Palin defends Newt Gingrich: David Gregory of ‘Meet the Press’ asked ‘racist-tinged’ question
Palin says the “Food Stamp President” line wasn’t racist—it was an answer to a reporter’s question that was tinged with racism. Was it a set-up?

The post ‘Blacks Should Not Be Satisfied With Food Stamps’: The Danger of Stereotypes 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.