20th Annual Regional Affirmative Action Conference
The 20th Annual Regional Conference for the American Association for Affirmative Action (AAAA) was held in Minneapolis on October 22-24, 1995. I attended this conference with anticipation because of the talk lately about changing, or doing away with Affirmative Action (AA). There were several 'experts' in this area there discussing what affirmative action means, what it is meant to accomplish, pros and cons, and the future of AA.
To clarify what AA is and is not, here are some definitions:
AA IS - Any measure, beyond simple termination of discriminatory practice, adopted to correct or compensate for past or present discrimination or to prevent discrimination from recurring in the future.
AA IS NOT - Quotas - Rigid requirements that employers hire fixed percentages of members of specific groups, regardless of qualifications. Quotas are illegal.
AA IS - Goals and timetables - Flexible targets set by employers for employment of qualified minorities and women, along with time frames for achieving the targets.
AA IS NOT - Preferences - The Supreme Court does not allow employers to prefer someone simply because of race or gender. It has ruled that race or gender may be a factor in the process.
AA IS - Equal Opportunity - AA gives women and minorities equal opportunities to participate in jobs and education that have in the past or present been closed to them. To be permissible, AA must involve only qualified workers.
AA IS NOT - Reverse discrimination - Reverse discrimination is rare. Of the 91,000 employment discrimination cases before the EEOC, only 2 are reverse discrimination cases.
We discussed how Diversity is the next step to AA. Once diversity in the workforce is achieved, diversity is then appreciating similarities and respecting and valuing other's differences while striving for a common goal. It's allowing all individuals to be empowered to develop themselves into achieving their fullest potential. A model for a diversity program was given, which includes:
Step 1 - Self-awareness of culture and ethnicity and awareness of issues such as sexism, racism, able-ism, homophobia and all other isms.
Step 2 - Knowledge of the similarities and differences of human beings, how stereotypes originate and persist, and economic and power motivations in human relationships.
Step 3 - Attitudes and Values to foster a positive appreciation of the rich diversity of human cultures, and to stimulate the development of empathy with other cultures.
Step 4 - Skills to foster cultural literacy and the potential to engage in action in support of greater equity and justice.
We discussed the threat of Sen. Robert Dole's proposal to abolish all federal affirmative action programs for women and minorities, which if enacted would wipe out 30 years of bipartisan civil rights enforcement and overturn two decades of Supreme Court decisions regarding AA.. Court-ordered AA remedies for proven, intentional discrimination also appear to be eliminated by the proposal. If this proposed legislation becomes law, women and minorities will be denied the only structural mechanism which works to undo intentional barriers to their employment and advancement.
There was a call to action to urge people to write and call their Senators and President Bill Clinton to help defeat passage of this bill.
We discussed how AA benefits us all - even white males. Business are more successful when their employees represent the customers they serve, and when they can recruit qualified minority candidates and retain them because they already have successful minority employees at all levels in their organization serving as role models. White males benefit from AA when their wives can reach their highest potential (and salary), which allows their family to maintain the standard of living they wish.
We can be proud of our Minneapolis mayor, Sharon Sayles Belton (even those of us from St. Paul!). She was there to address us, and not a stand-in like other mayors have done. We were challenged to think back to what it was like 20 years ago.... When there were no T.V. anchors, lawyers, doctors, fire fighters or police who were female or people of color. Now our kids find this hard to believe. By seeing how far we have come, she reminded us of how far we still need to go.
As Assistant Secretary Alex Rodriguez, U.S. Treasury Dept, who was involved in the beginning of the affirmative action program, said, "We may have gotten here in different ships, but we're all in the same boat now."
If anyone would like to receive more information on AAAA membership or the Minnesota State Association of Affirmative Action (MSAAA), contact John Gilbertson at jgil2@aol.com or 651-433-2562 or 651-296-1373.
— Copyright © 1995, Lila Kelly Associates. Diversity and Hiring Strategies - Since 1992. Published in the Human Resource Professionals of Minnesota newsletter. For more information, see www.lilakelly.com, or contact Lila at lila@lilakelly.com or 651-983-4489. Not for duplication without permission.