Last week I was encouraged to see some of our economic drivers in Michigan take a firm stand against discrimination by committing to protect the rights of gays and lesbians as well as women in the workforce.
The creation of the Michigan Competitive Workforce Coalition by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Strategic Staffing Solutions, AT&T, the American Civil Liberties Union and others is timely and significant. It reminds me of what Theodore Parker, the abolitionist, said long ago, “If powerful men (and women) will not write justice with black ink on white paper, ignorant and violent men will write it on the soil in letters of blood.”
That leadership benefits the public good and makes significant difference in our communities and in the workforce when those with resources take a position even when it is inconvenient to do so. When companies with influence say “no more” to attitudes that will only hold our future hostage, they should not go unnoticed.
Cindy Pasky, CEO of Strategic Staffing Solutions, a global organization she founded with international offices in London, Lithuania, Scotland, Ireland, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and Denmark, said S3 joining forces to make a stamp against discrimination is part of company philosophy.
“This is ingrained in everything we do, from our corporate HR practices to our philanthropic giving and community initiatives. In a state that is just starting to bounce back from a recession and one of the country’s highest unemployment rates, there is no reason for there to be a barrier between a qualified applicant and a job,” Pasky said. “Michigan’s economy depends on our ability to attract business and talent and this antiquated public policy is an unnecessary hurdle in these efforts.”
Jim Murray, president of AT&T Michigan and co-chair of Michigan Competitive Workforce Coalition underscored the importance of the initiative.
“Together, our Michigan work ethic and our adherence to ideas of basic fairness and equality have been a cornerstone for our economy, creating jobs, opening opportunities, encouraging investment and supporting families,” Murray said. “Updating ELCRA to include the sexual orientation and gender identity of Michigan residents strengthens that cornerstone at the very time Michigan is pushing hardest toward economic recovery.”
America is changing and it continues to evolve. That evolution is what gave birth to an Obama era, and as the nation continues to evolve we very well could have the first woman president in the not too distant future.
All things are possible in this melting pot and democratic experience called the United States, ever since the days when Blacks were told they could not sit at lunch counters, and women told they had little or no role to play, forcing the creation of suffrage movements to counter those default ideas.
Diversity is integral and must be part of our psyche because the numbers from the 2010 U.S. Census report tell us that we are becoming increasingly diverse.
Failing to acknowledge the Census reality was blatantly evident last week when I attended a reception at the Park Bar in downtown Detroit, where those who would be attending the upcoming Techweek Detroit Conference, May 19-25, came to smooze, network, build business relationships and expand contacts.
In a filled room there were virtually no African Americans or any other person of color for that matter, and there were also very few women in the room. It was basically an all White male affair.
I was literary one of two Black males in the room as I was exchanging pleasantries with the tech whizes, all of whom are excited about Detroit and the opportunities here. I said to myself the demographic in this room is not representative of the growing trends of the economic landscape. America has more colors than the colors in this room, and metro Detroit is made stronger when we add more colors to the mix.
We need to start the conversation now to create a diversity conscious tech industry. But there is a bigger problem that shows a national pattern, more than what I saw at the reception.
For instance CNNMoney in 2011 got stonewalled repeatedly when they tried to get numbers in Sillicon Valley about Blacks and women in their workforce. Few companies that were federal contractors like Cisco, Dell, eBay, Ingram Micro and Intel got their data provided by the U.S. Department of Labor in 2012, but that still didn’t do it.
Companies like Facebook, Groupon, Amazon, Hulu, LinkedIn, LivingSocial, Netflex, Twitter, Yelp and Zynga according to the CNN report are not federal contractors so the Labor Department had no authority to release information on these companies because they were not federal contractors.
What was more shocking in the CNN report was that companies like Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, Apple and Google successfully petitioned the federal government to be excluded on the data that was being supplied to CNN because it would cause “competitive harm.”
Does that mean forcing these companies or alerting them to the need to create diversity in their workforce when their customer base is so richly diverse will create “competitive harm”? That sounds not only like a technological filibuster, but it is also a ridiculous statement to make.
What kind of “competitive harm” would result from creating diversity that only enhances the bottom lines of these tech giants? It’s amazing sometimes the excuses that are given by those who are not willing to create needed change.
The inconvenient truth is that America’s tech industry is a circle of largely White and Asian males.
Women are grossly underrepresented, as well as Blacks, Hispanics and Arabs. Yet these racial demographics are huge consumers of products of the tech industry.
Do these industry leaders understand there needs to be a link between who works for you and who buys your products?
Just like the Michigan Competitive Workforce Coalition’s move to ban gender and gay discrimination in the workplace, it’s time we create the Michigan Tech-Diversity Workforce to ensure tech companies in Michigan, and especially in Detroit, have meaningful diversity.
The leaders of our tech industry in metro Detroit should move with all deliberate speed to study this issue and begin to make reforms because those who buy their products are not only White and Asian males. You can’t tell people who are buying your products that they are not good enough to work for you.
Their consumers include a majority of women, Blacks, Hispanics, Arabs, etc. I welcome any realistic effort to have a dialogue and concrete plans to address this issue forthwith.
Just as we saw industry captains like Dan Loepp, the CEO of Blue Cross Blue Sheild of Michigan, Cindy Pasky, CEO of Strategic Staffing Solutions, Jim Murray CEO of AT&T, and others step up to address what has been a stain on the state’s reputation when it comes to women, gays and lesbians, other leaders in the tech industry should also step up and address a similar issue, all in defense of diversity and the need for a competitive workforce.
Show those who buy your products that your workforce reflects the marketplace. It is not only morally right, it is economically right.
History has shown us that those who make lasting changes that impact generations will always be remembered for the steps they took in tackling the problems head on, not the excuses they made up for why the problems can’t be solved. Let’s talk creating real diversity at Techweek Detroit for a change.
Bankole Thompson is the editor of the Michigan Chronicle and author of a forthcoming book on Detroit. His most recent book, “Obama and Christian Loyalty,” deals with the politics of the religious right, Black theology and the president’s faith posture across a myriad of issues with an epilogue written by former White House spokesman Robert S. Weiner. He is a senior political analyst at WDET-101.9FM (Detroit Public Radio) and a member of the weekly “Obama Watch” Sunday roundtable on WLIB-1190AM New York. Email bthompson@michronicle.com or visit https://www.bankolethompson.com.