Our Nation derives strength from the diversity of its population and from its commitment to equal opportunity for all. We are at our best when we draw on the talents of all parts of our society, and our greatest accomplishments are achieved when diverse perspectives are brought to bear to overcome our greatest challenges.
A commitment to equal opportunity, diversity, and inclusion is critical for the Federal Government as an employer. By law, the Federal Government's recruitment policies should "endeavor to achieve a work force from all segments of society." (5 U.S.C. 2301(b)(1)). As the Nation's largest employer, the Federal Government has a special obligation to lead by example. Attaining a diverse, qualified workforce is one of the cornerstones of the merit-based civil service...
By this order, I am directing executive departments and agencies (agencies) to develop and implement a more comprehensive, integrated, and strategic focus on diversity and inclusion as a key component of their human resources strategies. This approach should include a continuing effort to identify and adopt best practices, implemented in an integrated manner, to promote diversity and remove barriers to equal employment opportunity, consistent with merit system principles and applicable law.
President Obama’s new order instructs federal agencies to design new strategies for hiring, promoting and keeping workers of “diverse” backgrounds. The diversity the government is seeking is not diversity of ideas, outlooks or work experiences. In contemporary political parlance, “diversity” refers primarily to the color of one’s skin and not the content of one’s character. The executive order says the federal government “must create a culture that encourages collaboration, flexibility and fairness to enable individuals to participate to their full potential.” In the name of “fairness,” however, the government will intensify programs that discriminate against white Americans by extending special privileges to everyone else. The order also says that “attaining a diverse, qualified workforce is one of the cornerstones of the merit-based civil service,” though merit and ability are not the metrics of choice when measuring success in diversity-driven career programs.
In a peculiar and rather ironic twist, the Washington Post editorial goes on to make an argument against Obama's diversity order by actually using quotas:
According to the Office of Personnel Management, federal employees in fiscal 2010 were 66.2 percent white, 17.7 percent black, 8 percent Hispanic, 5.6 percent Asian and Pacific Islander and 1.8 percent American Indian. Compared to the general U.S. population, the federal force is a bit too diverse. Blacks are overrepresented by 6.9 percent compared to the civilian work force, Asians and Pacific Islanders by 1.2 percent, and American Indians are more than double their proportion of the population at large. White Americans, who make up about 70 percent of the work force, are underrepresented by around 4 percent. Hispanics are also underrepresented despite the Clinton-era executive order 13171, “Hispanic Employment in the Federal Government.”
Moving on to the next point in the editorial, the Washington Times tips it hand by making the following statement:
During the 2008 presidential campaign and in the initial months of the Obama presidency, there was great enthusiasm for the concept of post-racial America. Mr. Obama’s historic election was viewed as a watershed for the issue of race relations. People thought that finally a national dialogue could be commenced on the issue free of guilt and recriminations.
Wanting to turn the page on racism in America is, of course, a noble and worthy pursuit, however, merely acknowledging the mistakes of the past, without actually taking any actions to correct them, misses the entire point of turning the page (as the cartoon above demonstrates). In other words, it is not enough to simply point at the election of one Black President (out of 44 Presidents) and think that this somehow makes everything ok. It doesn't. It's a good start, but if we're trying to actually improve race relations in America then we have to be willing to have an uncomfortable discussion about the big picture.
A large part of this big picture discussion is the ability of Blacks and other minorities to enjoy the same access to employment, home ownership, and education that Whites have enjoyed since America was founded. President Obama's Executive Order to increase the diversity of employment within America's federal agencies is one example of taking action in the right direction. Until more actions are taken towards the same effect, helping Whites to feel less guilty during our big picture discussion -- a point that the Washington Times suggests is paramount to actually affecting change -- not only misses the point of the discussion but it also fails to actually take any action towards improving minority access to the aforementioned areas in our society which are still unmistakeably plagued by racial disparities, even in this so-called "post-racial America."
[ORIGINALLY POSTED ON THE URBAN POLITICO]