by Elizabeth M Young

Created on: October 12, 2009   Last Updated: April 22, 2010

Racism is alive and well in America. Racism is alive and well in the workplace, and racism is alive and well in hiring practices. There should be absolutely no discussion of "the promise" of workforce diversity by now. There should be equal opportunity for all who are qualified and not for those who are not qualified. But there is not equal opportunity and treatment, or there would not be record breaking lawsuits going on right now.

There is a crisis in the availability and security of jobs in America now. Whenever there is a crisis in job availability, less qualified and capable members of a certain subset of Americans, consider themselves to be entitled to resources ahead of every other subset of Americans. Their automatic response is to wail even louder about "diversity" and "affirmative action". None of them offer one scintilla of proof that they are more qualified or capable than anyone else.

This lack of proved superior performance or qualification is prevalent among those who argue and lie about "affirmative action" and "diversity" as the cause of their failures at work. There is no discussion about failure to get some more education or to just do a better job as the cause of their failures at work. It's all the fault of "diversity".

Affirmative action, the medical field, the military, and other fields did their jobs. There are people of color, women, and people of all ethnic groups who are more educated, more experienced, more awarded, and more qualified than ever. They should not be going anywhere but up, and they have the ability to appreciate their jobs and the work that they do. They do not have the arrogance of self entitlement.

And claiming, these days, that someone is an "affirmative action" or diversity hire is still making a false claim that they are not qualified for their job or promotion. That is the most pernicious form of libel and slander that is made by people who want to go back to the unfair playing field that used to be so lucrative for those who were less capable, but superior in race and gender.

Ridiculous. There are two fields where race and gender are not such overwhelming considerations in hiring and recognizing a person: college and the military. Thousands of women and people of color are graduating from college with fine records, and are leaving the military with awards and honors, yet they come into the job search to face attitudes and comments against them that are based solely on their race and gender. Some ex-military workers attempt to adjust to civilian life, then go right back into the military, because they cannot stand the overt racism and sexism in American workplaces.

Workforce diversity has been living up to it's promise for decades. But racism and sexism are living up to their promises, too.

Learn more about this author, Elizabeth M Young.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.