Company accused of hiring only gay men loses $1-million verdict. Three women filed a discrimination charge against a shipping company, alleging that the company only hired gay men for station-manager jobs. When the gay, male manager of one location left, the assistant, also a gay man, was logically made acting manager. He stated his interest in being appointed as the regular station manager. However, the company refused to even accept his application for the opening. He was told he would not be considered because the company was “in a boiling pot of water” because of the three women’s complaints.

A senior manager told others that the company “needed to clean house” of gay people. Under the Maine Human Rights Act, a jury awarded more than $1 million in damages plus attorney fees for discriminatory denial of the promotional opportunity in Russel v. Express Jet Airlines, Inc. (Maine S.Ct., 2011). The warning in this case is about overreaction. Do not react to one discrimination case by then discriminating in another direction. Adopt validated, sound practices in general. 

For more on hiring best practices, watch our recruitment web seminar, featuring staffing leaders from AT&T and Toyota Motor Sales, and read Diversity Training Goes Way Beyond Compliance. 

Georgia legislature could not fire transgender state employee. The 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause covers discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and transgender by government employers (unlike Title VII, which does not cover these issues). When the editor of a Georgia General Assembly publication began a transition from male to female, the legislative council manager initiated a discharge. The manager stated that the sex reassignment would be “inappropriate” and “disruptive” and some coworkers would have a “moral issue and feel uncomfortable.” In the resulting case, the court found clear discrimination based on transgender and gender stereotyping. Glenn v. Brumby (11th Cir., 2011).  

For more on LGBT best practices, read Our Analysis of the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index and  Ask DiversityInc: How Can Corporations Support Same-Sex Marriage? 

Discrimination: Age

$17.7 million to older drivers. A jury found that a soda-bottling company engaged in a deliberate plan to rid itself of older truck and forklift drivers by artificially lowering performance evaluations and assigning harder work designed to cause injury or motivate them to resign. Evidence included a “manager claiming he was required to discriminate against older drivers,” comments by a senior manager referring to facilities with older workers as “retirement communities” in need of “new blood,” and the non-responsiveness of human resources to complaints made by the older workers. Seven plaintiffs received the award, including $1 million each for pain and suffering and up to $2 million each in punitive damages in Ward v. Cadbury Schweppes Bottling Group (C.D. Cal., 2011). The awards were under California’s antidiscrimination laws and are not subject to the liability caps of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

For more on generational communications in the workplace, read Ask DiversityInc: How Can We Start Resource Groups Based on Generations, Disabilities? and watch our  resource groups webinar.

Discrimination: Disability

Injured vet gets job, but not millions. An injured Iraq war veteran won a jury verdict of $4.4 million because of discrimination. The defendant was, of all entities, the Department of the Army. The plaintiff lost his right hand, part of a lung and an eye while defusing a roadside bomb. On return from duty, he had a civilian job at the Detroit Arsenal. His supervisor and some coworkers were derogatory of his disability, calling him “cripple,” “lefty” and other names. When he objected, the supervisor said, “If you don’t like the way you are treated, go find another job.” He left, sued for constructive discharge and won. The award included $4.4 million in “front pay.” An appeals court modified the verdict. It held that reinstatement to a job—a higher-paying job under different supervisors—was the proper remedy, and not front pay. At age 38, it was unfeasible that he needed an entire life’s worth of pay, as if he would never be able to find another source of income, which is what front pay is supposed to compensate. McKelvey v. Army (6th Cir., 2011).

For more  best practices on hiring and developing veteran talent, read Veterans in the Workplace: How to Help Them Succeed and watch our veterans web seminar.

Hotel kitchen worker loses ADA case; would have won ADAAA case. The pre-amendment ADA cases are gradually coming to an end, while cases under the ADA Amendments Act are coming to the fore. This case is an illustration of why the ADA was amended. In Ramos-Echeverra v. Pichis, Inc. (1st Cir., 2011), a hotel kitchen worker’s epilepsy caused up to 16 seizures a week. However, this rarely interfered with work and never caused a serious performance or safety issue. Management, however, denied him full-time hours. He sued under the ADA. The court dismissed, ruling that even with 16 seizures a week, he was not “disabled” because he could still do work and most life activities. The ADAAA was passed specifically because the courts were making restrictive rulings about the definition of disability. It changed the definition of disability. The employee’s history of epilepsy and number of seizures would clearly be a disability now, and the case would proceed.

Court rules for deceased employee: morbid obesity is a disability. The EEOC pursued a disability case on behalf of a person fired from a residential care facility because her morbid obesity allegedly interfered with her work. During the course of the case, the plaintiff died because of complications of obesity. The court allowed the EEOC to continue the case on behalf of the employee’s estate and under the EEOC’s authority to address discrimination regardless of the presence of an individual plaintiff. Then the court ruled that morbid obesity itself can be a disability. Prior decisions have emphasized that there should be some other medical conditions that contribute to the obesity. Thus, those other conditions are the disabilities, and obesity is an effect. Now, this court found no other physiological impairments need be present; the obesity alone is a disability. EEOC v. Resources for Human Development, Inc. (E.D. La., 2011).

Read Obesity Is a Disability, Says EEOC for more on hiring workers with disabilities and EEOC regulations.

Discrimination: Religion

Non-Amish worker can pursue discharge case. In McIntire v. Keystone RV Co. (E.D. Penn., 2011), the court found sufficient evidence to validate an ex-employee’s religious-discrimination case. The plaintiff alleged that he took a job at an Amish-owned company, and then a new manager began a practice of replacing non-Amish workers with Amish. The plaintiff was then replaced. The company tried to argue that being “non-Amish” is not a protected category under Title VII; one must be discriminated against because of one’s religion—not one’s non-religion. The court rejected this argument. Title VII protects a person because of their religion and also protects against discrimination because one does not hold the same beliefs as the employer. Religion should play no role either way in private-sector employment decisions.

For more on religious issues, read Religious Discrimination in the Workplace.

Discrimination: Race

Stick to one story. A Black welder gave two different versions for leaving his employment, in two different cases: personal injury and Title VII discrimination. In the Title VII case, the employee claimed he was constructively discharged; he had to quit because of racial harassment by coworkers and supervisors knew it, and that was the only reason he left. Prior to resigning, the welder had been injured in an off-work car accident. He sued the other driver. In that case, he claimed he had been forced to quit work because of the injury, claiming “I’m in pain all the time.” He claimed the only reason he had to quit work was because of the injury and “my supervisors knew this is why I had to quit.” It appeared he was telling whatever story was most convenient to get the most damages in either case—double-dipping. Evidence of the testimony in the personal-injury case came to light in the Title VII case. The court dismissed the discrimination case based upon dishonesty. Brown v. Oil States Skagit Smatco (5th Cir., 2011).

Watch our mentoring webinar for best practices on retaining and developing Black, Latino, Asian and women talent.

Family and Medical Leave Act

Prenatal appointments qualify for FMLA, and company should have known better than to threaten discharge. Pregnancy itself is defined as a serious medical condition under the FMLA. In Dean v. Wackenhut Corp. (N.D. Ill., 2011), an employee requested FMLA for prenatal-care appointments. She made the request 20 days in advance. The company denied leave, on the basis that the appointment was “merely an initial examination and not medically necessary.” Then the company told her that she would be fired for no call-no show if she did go to the appointment. The employee pleaded for the ability to go to the appointments. In response, she was told that she “should not use pregnancy as a crutch … pregnancy is not an illness.” She sued for interference with FMLA rights. The court granted summary judgment in her favor. The violation was so clear cut that damages could be awarded without need of a trial. The decision called the employer’s actions “misguided and unfounded” and held that by denying leave and “by attempting to scare her into not taking the time off by threatening disciplinary action—indeed, discharge,” Wackenhut deprived her of her rights under the FMLA as a matter of law.

University denies intermittent leave for adoption. FMLA covers leave for birth, adoption or placement of a foster child. A university employee requested intermittent leave to care for a newly adopted child. The university denied the leave. She sued for interference with FMLA rights. The court granted summary judgment, dismissing the case. FMLA leave for serious medical conditions of employees or family members can be taken in short, intermittent periods. The new-child leave provision is different. It allows the employer the discretion to grant intermittent leave or deny it and force the leave to be taken all at one time. The employee had not made any claim about a serious health condition, so the university could validly deny intermittent leave. DeLuca v. Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania (E.D. Penn., 2011).

Read FMLA: What Employers Need to Know for more insights on FMLA regulations.

Bob Gregg, a partner in Boardman & Clark Law Firm, shares his roundup of diversity-related legal issues. He can be reached at rgregg@boardmanclark.com.

The post Workplace Diversity: Is Hiring Only Gay Men Unfair? appeared first on DiversityInc.

Question:

I am a white woman asking a question. I am not racist–never have been. A person is a person to me and I have raised my daughter that way. My question is “Why are so many Black Americans racist toward whites?” My daughter goes to school in a mixed community. I could send her to private school, but I feel it is important that she learn to cope with the real world. In the school that she goes to, it seems that the Black students are aggressive toward the white students. Why? I know there is anger because of the past, but why treat whites the way they would not want to be treated and have fought against all these years? We made no decisions in the times when Blacks were mistreated [and] we believe in equality–so why can’t we be given the same respect? This is a question asked by many people I know. I was hoping maybe you could give me an honest answer.

Now don’t get me wrong–not all Black Americans are like this. We have many friends that are not interested in keeping racism alive in either direction–Black and white. So why do some choose to act in such a way? Do they not realize that this attitude is one of the things that keeps racism alive? Thank you.

Answer:

Thank you for your question and the courage it took to put it on the table.

I would expect to find an equal percentage of Black-American bigots as white bigots. (Click here to read “Why the ‘B’ in ‘Black’ Is Capitalized at DiversityInc.”) What Black Americans don’t have, in most cases, is a societal, condoned way of expressing it–because white people are the majority.

This is why it’s more accurate to use the words “bigot” or “bigots” in your question than “racist” or “racists.” Racism is based on an oppressor/oppressed relationship. The majority culture can be racist toward the minority culture, but the opposite cannot be true. Everyone, however, can be a bigot.

Black Americans are more likely to understand that bigotry (and other forms of unjustified hatred based on a person’s identity, such as sexism, homophobia or discrimination against people with disabilities) exacts a reciprocal penalty. There is an economic penalty and there is a psychological penalty.

Frederick Douglass described the psychological penalty eloquently in his concise description of how the corrosive effect of living with slavery destroyed the lives of his white enslavers in Annapolis (in his autobiography, My Bondage and My Freedom). This is an extreme example but it works to illustrate the point.

I believe an intimate (victim’s) awareness of the destructive nature of hate is why the overwhelming majority of Americans who fought for equal rights (for all Americans) were Black. I want everyone to think very carefully about this: Retribution would have been a race war. Dr. King was absolute in his dedication to nonviolent protests!

Most white Americans would say that the civil-rights era mostly benefited Black people. It didn’t. By economic measurement, we can prove that the civil-rights era benefited ALL Americans by freeing the economic engine of formerly oppressed people–the growth in our consumer economy and the reigning economic supremacy of this country over 95 percent of the world’s population that ISN’T American over the past 40 years rests on those shoulders.

I’m sorry for the long preamble, but now I’ll get to your question.

What I think you’re experiencing is a system that has failed to punish bigotry and therefore has promoted it. Please understand that it does not take an active program to promote something in order to be successful in doing just that.

You SHOULD demand equal respect and demand proper management from your school board. I would enlist the help of your Black friends. There should be zero tolerance of race-based bigotry. Human nature is tribal–when a group reaches 20 percent, it begins to act as a (small) majority tribe. The blunt truth of tribal behavior is that our base instinct is to kill the competitive tribe. That’s why EVERYONE needs diversity training–and everyone, especially in a school setting, should be held accountable for biased behavior.

I will note, however, that you need to be very careful. Most diversity training I see is garbage. What is very possible, however, is to enforce behavior codes equally–and, in your case, I would suggest adjudication and/or advice via a very diverse committee.

* Everyone should watch both of the following videos. In the first video, the bigot is taunting a private person with a video camera–he’s really pleased about his little bigoted display of a child’s monkey doll with an Obama bumper sticker for a hat. In the second video, he’s being videoed by a CBS news camera. He takes the sticker off and hands the toy to a child. Think about this–it’s not the (all-white) crowd that’s expressing their disapproval; it’s the man thinking this might not work for his candidate.

Can you imagine the misery of being Black and having this creep as a boss?

The post Should Black Bigots Be Tolerated? appeared first on DiversityInc.

The White Guy responds to a reader’s question of whether Sen. Barack Obama is facing opposition simply because he is a Black man.

Question:
If Obama were a white man with the same ideas for economics, healthcare, the wars, energy AND the message of unity going against McCain, do you think this campaign would be such a big deal? I personally think that for those who so strongly oppose him, it merely comes down to the fact that he’s a Black man. They hide behind the “issues” but when it all comes down to it, I think that many who so strongly oppose him do so solely based on the color of his skin. What do you think? Keep up the good work.

Answer:
Thank you.
 
Every poll I’ve seen shows that there is a certain segment of the American population that will not vote for Senator Obama simply because he’s Black. What seems to have changed, however, is that those people don’t hide their feelings anymore.
 
According to the Pew Research Center, the so-called Wilder effect, where white people say one thing to pollsters and do another in the voting booth, seems to have gone away.

However, I think there’s another very important point: I’m not sure Senator Obama would have made it this far if he weren’t Black. It’s my observation that the everyday racism that hurts the majority of oppressed people by destroying ego, self-esteem and by putting one too many unfair race-based obstacles in a career path, galvanizes a small percentage of especially strong people.
 
To head off the usual “I had obstacles too” e-mails from white people, let me add that the injustice of racism (or sexism, or discrimination against people with visible disabilities, etc.) is in ADDITION to the regular obstacles that we all face. Not only is it additional, but it is focused on a facet of being that is out of our control–we are born the way we are (or may become that way in the case of a disability). That feeling of out-of-your-control, yet personally directed injustice cannot be fully understood by majority men who are heterosexual and have no ADA-defined disabilities.
 
Would Senator Obama have risen to go to Columbia and Harvard Law School–where he eventually became the president of the Harvard Law Review–if he were not strengthened by living every day in the crucible of being a Black man in America? Would he have had the empathy to work as a civil-rights lawyer and community organizer? Would he have had the gumption to successfully run for the state Senate twice and then the United States Senate? Could he have run a campaign that defied all media predictions, raised unprecedented money from an unprecedented number of people and derailed the anointed party candidate with the strongest brand name in politics?
 
I don’t think so.
 
If Barack Obama had been born a white man in a comfortable, middle-class household, I think he’d be successful, but I don’t think it’s likely we’d know who he is.
 
I will add that the same goes for Sen. McCain. Yes, he had the advantage of having a father and grandfather who were admirals who had influence in his acceptance into the Naval Academy. But plenty of people go to the Naval Academy–and there were over 1,000 POWs in Vietnam. Why did he resist his captor’s torture with such integrity? Why did he continue his career in the Navy after he was released? Why did he run for Senate? Why was his response to the debate question about torture so unequivocal and firm? Why do we know so much about this one senator out of 100? Sen. McCain has grit, character, intelligence and almost superhuman perseverance. There are no polls that indicate his support is in any significant way due to anti-Black sentiments–and I don’t think it would be fair to imply so.
 
There are significant differences in the philosophies of both candidates.

The post How Race Has Benefited Barack Obama appeared first on DiversityInc.

The same reader who asks the White Guy why the descendants of African tribal leaders shouldn’t pay reparations for slavery also questions his racial/ethnic identity. Here’s what the White Guy has to say.

Question:
If you think white people owe reparations to black people for being slaves, why not bill the descendants of the ancestral African tribal leaders, who having won their tribal wars then sold the losing tribes into slavery to the white slavers as well?

Answer:
I don’t think “white people” owe reparations, I think the United States of America does. Justice would be served if all people involved in the slave trade paid reparations; however, our country would benefit the most by an aggressive reparations program, because most descendants of American slaves still live in this country.

Reparations should be goaled to restore descendants of slaves to the median economic level of wealth in this country. It is important to define what reparations could be—it’s not simply handing a check to people. Remedial investments in education, housing and employment opportunity would benefit all Americans by lifting an oppressed group to enable them to achieve the human potential they were born with. I don’t think it’s that important to genetically justify reparations—all black people are subject to the racism in our culture. The percentage of people who would benefit from reparations but were not descendants of slaves is statistically insignificant.

It is the work of free people that creates wealth. Although our country has not been perfect, our human rights are what have made us a powerful nation. Reparations are a natural extension of that process.

Question:
You don’t look “white.” Are you of Italian descent? I thought Italians are Latins, not white. But there again, I might just be an ignorant white woman.

Answer:
Ironically, one of my earliest memories is being told I was “passing” at a friend’s fourth birthday party in East Orange, N.J. No doubt that my ancestors have some African relatives—but so do yours. As the human-genome project demonstrates, we’re all from Africa and there is no such thing as race. Have a nice day, fellow person of African descent!

The post ‘You Don’t Look White,’ Reader Tells White Guy appeared first on DiversityInc.

Question:

Why do you think white people in general still do not get the “struggle” that many African Americans still face today, especially in the corporate world?

Answer:

This is a subject near to my heart because realizing the gap between my perceptions and the reality of what African Americans go through on a daily basis is what drove me to devote my life’s work to this subject.

I concur with you. In my observation from personal experience, almost 100 percent of white people have almost no concept of the “struggle” that African Americans face today. They may think they do, but it’s not so.

I’m not ignoring bigots, but with rare exception, this lack of awareness is caused by benign ignorance. Most people view themselves as fair people; therefore, from the majority standpoint, society is fair, and they are fair, so “what’s the problem?”

This ignorance is expressed as exacerbation by white people when confronted with evidence that disrupts this rosy worldview.

For example, I watched Carson Daly and Wanda Sykes co-host a New Year’s special in 2005. After showing a Johnny Carson clip, Daly was musing over how much simpler things were back in 1963. Sykes commented on how they weren’t simpler for blacks and mentioned that she certainly wouldn’t have been a co-host in 1963. Daly wrinkled up his nose and said, “Oh, come on, it wasn’t so bad; we had Sammy Davis Jr.”

Sykes’s desire to “discuss” this with Daly was written on her face, but with 15 seconds left until midnight, she swallowed it and went on.

There’s nothing in Daly’s background or work that would tell me he’s a bigot. I’d say he typifies the average white guy: blissfully ignorant of racial issues–and decisively so!

Unfortunately, blissful ignorance is not without a cost. The majority culture blames the victim in just about every case when it comes to outcome (although the alternative is more accurate, it is understandably less comfortable for the majority and therefore avoided like the plague). However, blaming the victim costs money and decreases performance.

I recently spoke at a large technology-based firm. One of their executives asked me about a recent study, which showed that fewer black and Latino students are graduating with engineering and math degrees. I said that Department of Education statistics show graduation rates of black and Latino students are outpacing their respective growth in representation in our country.

This company was looking at an outcome and blaming the students. If they took a larger view, they would see the problem: Talented students of color are there, but they’re choosing other careers. The simple explanation is that there is far more demand for students of color from progressive companies, like those in The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity, than there is supply. Without a proper invitation, the (highly desired) students go into careers where they perceive they are wanted.

From a white perspective, this makes no sense. They’re good people; they run a “fair” company and they’ve never needed to issue an invitation to anyone. Why should they need to now?

So, bringing this back to your question, we can see that being ignorant of the “struggle” is costing this company in recruitment and retention because they’re not managing reality (and for those readers who are going to tell me it’s a government problem, please save your keystrokes: The government has pretty much proved itself to be incapable of managing the situation at hand).

My hunch is that this company will be OK, because unlike most companies, they understand the problem, want to control their future and are beginning to implement diversity management.

The consequence of not managing diversity (in this case) is that this company will continue to recruit from an ever decreasing pool of people as our country moves toward less than 50 percent white. In addition, what generational studies tell me is that the very management traits that define superior diversity management will also be required to recruit and retain the audience that most companies think they have a lock on: white men. To put an ironic twist on Dr. Johnnetta Cole’s favorite Zora Neale Hurston saying, older white men need to understand that many younger whites may feel that “All that are my skin folk ain’t my kin folk.”

By the way, for my white readers: There’s no better expression of ignorance than a white person describing themselves as “colorblind.”

The post Why Whites Don’t Understand the ‘Struggle’ appeared first on DiversityInc.

Question:
I have been feeling a bit frustrated lately. Here’s my situation and I’m looking for some hope and sage advice.

I am a white female and in a role where diversity is a part of my job. The reason it is a part of my job is because I’ve worked hard to make it so and because of a genuine passion and interest in all things diversity including changing culture. My frustration lies in the fact that lately my motives are being questioned and/or not being taken genuinely (i.e., some people of color are not seeing me as credible or someone who cares about making a difference, therefore, they don’t really share their true thoughts/ideas/etc.)

This frustration is leading me to something I’ve never felt so strongly before. I wish in some regards I was black (or of color) so that I could gain more respect and credibility with my peers. The conflicting point of view I have is that I truly believe in diversity in the highest sense of the word, meaning that just because you are a person of color doesn’t mean that you must have an interest in issues regarding people of color, and that just because you are white doesn’t mean that you don’t care about issues of equality, etc. In fact, the other argument I often hear is when a person of color is working on diversity issues, it’s just because of their race.

So my question is this: How do we get to a level of inclusion if it has to be one or the other? Please help before I give up.

Answer:
I don’t think you need to change your race to be accepted as credible on diversity issues.

My advice for white people who care is simple:

1. Actions speak louder than words. I am a trustee of Bennett College for Women (an HBCU) and a foundation board member of NJCU (an HSI). Through our foundation, our company donates money to both schools and Rutgers Newark (the most diverse campus in America). We also donate ad space to many good organizations.
 
2. Know what you’re talking about. I am constantly reading books to advance my knowledge. In addition to increasing your cross-cultural knowledge, learn about the history of white people who have fought for civil rights and freedom so you have a basis for pride.

3. Regularly socialize with people who are not in your own group–in your house.

4. Do not deny another person’s right to their own reality.

5. Never attempt to communicate in vernacular. If you’re white, BE white.

6. Understand there are jackasses in all groups.

In the ten years we’ve been publishing DiversityInc, I’ve found far more acceptance than I know my counterparts (of color) find among white people. It’s humbling. I would also say that my experiences as a trustee of Bennett College for Women have been the most collegial and rewarding of my professional life.

The post Can a White Person Be a Diversity Leader? appeared first on DiversityInc.

Question:
Why doesn’t the NBA look like America?

Answer:
Channeling the creative energy of a group of people into narrow categories will tend to enhance their performance in those specific areas.

Given the rampant under-funding of public schools that serve black and brown students, our country funnels entire groups of people–who can only be distinguished by race–into narrow channels of productivity.

It demonstrates a waste of potential. Just as the worst NBA team could completely dominate the best basketball team of 1957 (which, due to overt discrimination, was either completely or practically all white), it is logical to assume that representative corporate top-management representation would completely trounce all white top-managed companies.

I think most white people will have to think about that for a little while, because it’s still not acceptable in our society to think of black people as being intellectually equal.

Here’s another interesting way to look at the same phenomenon: In our country, it’s commonly held to be true that Asians are intelligent. A Chinese friend of mine pointed out that, if we emptied out Yale, Harvard and Princeton and sent those students to China, the Chinese people there would think Americans were pretty smart..

The post Why Are Sports Dominated by Blacks? appeared first on DiversityInc.

Question:

From the fly-on-the-wall perspective … What is it that no black man knows, and no white man will tell?

Answer:

It’s revealing to say that there is nothing that the white man knows and won’t tell.

White men are like a cloud. “We” look like we have substance and cohesion, but it’s really wispy and insubstantial. “Race” is a matter of happenstance, and when you’re the majority, that happenstance looks like nothing. When you’re not the majority, it looks like a conspiracy. At the end of it all, white people are like anyone else; we’ll turn against each other just as easily as turn against another group.

The post Do White Men Have a Secret? appeared first on DiversityInc.

Question:
I am a college biology professor who specializes in University Affirmative Action Programs. It is clear that human races are genetically different and have genetically adapted to where they evolved; these are scientific facts and are not debatable. For examples, because of body form and fat distribution, Eskamoes [sic] are better adapted for cold. The Thai, who evolved in hot & humid tropical forests, are superior thermal-coolers. Whites better absorb sunlight and make Vitamin D, whereas dark-skinned people are superior at blocking harmful UV radiation in the tropics. Tropical races have superior genetics for fighting malaria–for example, there are at least 7 different gene-based anti-malaria defenses among different populations in Papua New Guinea. I could list nearly 100 gene-based adaptations of specific human populations.

The point is that the races are not equal. For the most part, each is superior in their native environment. For example, white missionaries died like flies in Papua New Guinea due to inferior genes for fighting tropical diseases, whereas NA Indians died from lack of genes to fight European diseases.

Africans are generally better athletes than whites, but different African populations are better at different sports. Eastern Africans, who evolved in hot dry grasslands where long-distance walking was essential, are superior marathon runners. West Africans are the world’s best sprinters and jumpers.

Unfortunately, 100 years of IQ studies suggest that Jews, Europeans and Northeast Asians have superior IQ. The Basque people also apparently have a high IQ. In contrast, hundreds of IQ tests have suggested that Africans are at least one Standard Deviation lower than Europeans in IQ.

During 200,000 years of evolution, virtually no African peoples moved beyond the Stone Age, devised a written language, learned to work stone or metal to any extent, or invented the wheel. Today, despite 200 years of contact with the Europeans, there is not a single “working” sub-Sahara country. Also everywhere Africans have settled, be it Brazil, Haiti or Sweden, they remain at the bottom of society and technical accomplishment. African societies tend to be brutal and backwards, and with a low standard of living.

Having superior cold or hot tolerance or superior sun block or malaria-fighting ability or better athleticism was very important 1,000 years ago. But in today’s complicated technical civilizations, the most important factor for success is intelligence.

I’m not trying to be mean. I’m just trying to understand why the hundreds of black students who have come through my AA programs have generally not measured up to the average intelligence levels of white, Jewish and Asian students. What if, because of genes, the Eskimo will never be heat-tolerant, the Thai will never be cold-adapted, whites and Chinese will generally never be great long-distance runners or basketball players? And what if because of genes, blacks generally do not have equal intelligence to whites and Asians? A million years of Head Start and AA will not change that. Please send me your thoughts.

Answer:
Science has made tremendous advances in understanding genetics, especially over the past five years. The mapping of the human genome has proven that the outward, physical manifestations of race are determined by a very small number of genes (less than 6 percent). Genetic studies have also proved that there are no significant differences between human beings and that there is only one species of human. The concept of race has been judged to be biologically meaningless and the American Anthropological Association also rejects the concept of race.

External differences in human beings can be traced to geographic isolation after human beings migrated from Africa. This has been documented by the National Geographic Genographic Project. We are all of African decent.

What’s left to your e-mail is the social construct of race. Your eugenic observations on IQ make a scientifically invalid leap from culture to genetics to intelligence. On top of this, your reliance on a standardized test to determine intelligence is also bankrupt. We have written about standardized tests in the magazine and will have further articles in 2007. Tests don’t judge intelligence, and many factors impact test scores, notably economic level. That poverty can be traced to race in our country is the result of bigotry and racism, not genetics.

As far as your comments about Africa, you can connect almost all of the current problems in Africa to colonialism. The disgusting behavior of “civilized” European nations has not been proactively redressed to this day. It is a system maintained to extract raw materials without having to pay a fair price for them.

It’s sad to say that we human beings share a tendency to oppress. It is a common feeling to think that holding one group back elevates another group–but it doesn’t work that way in an economic model, noted by no less than George Washington, who observed that an acre of land was less expensive in Virginia than an acre of land in Pennsylvania–despite the quality of the Virginia land being superior. His conclusion, borne out by economists, was that slavery depressed value and freedom elevated it. In my opinion, science has caught up to economics. Now it’s a matter of we humans coming to grips with our own self-destructive behavior.

In closing, I have to note that I find it impossible to believe that a biology professor at a large public university would be so profoundly ignorant of the current state of genetic research and opinion. Your e-mail reflects a desire to be a bigot.

I’m sorry for your students. That you are involved with affirmative-action programs turns my stomach. You should consider yourself fortunate that you do not work for either of the two schools I am a board member of.

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Question:
I recently overhead a conversation between our HR director, an African-American woman, and a hiring manager, a white woman. The HR director commented that she saw her success directly tied to hiring as many “women of color as possible” to which the hiring manager responded “my goal is to hire as many people of quality as possible.” How would you respond especially in light of a past response in which you commented that our past is full of double standards. Are you suggesting we address our past injustices by creating new ones? How would you have responded to the hiring manager?

Answer:
I don’t think that “women of color” and “people of quality” are exclusive terms. I know many high-quality women of color.

The goal of any hiring strategy should be to find a representative slate of the best quality people. However, given that talent is distributed equally and bidirectional communication links employees to markets, there are many business reasons to balance a non-representative work force by setting appropriate goals.

Since I’m not privy to the HR director’s goals, I can’t comment on her intention. It seems to me, however, that regardless of the HR director’s intention, the hiring manager may have been insubordinate.

The post ‘People of Color’ and ‘People of Quality’ Are Not Exclusive appeared first on DiversityInc.