The Illusion of Inclusion “ Diversity or Diversion ”
dollar private company regarding our concerns of their treatment of African-Americans trying to do business with them , and their low spending on African-American owned companies , NAMC asked the Senior Vice President of Diversity of Inclusion , “ in the spirit of transparency ,” for the data reports of their spend with African- Americans .
We were shocked to receive a response from the CEO who asked , “ Didn ’ t we write you a check ?”
- The Sterling Effect
Kevin B . Williams , President , KBW Professional Consulting Chair ,
National Association of Minority Companies , Inc . ( NAMCO ) Agency Alliance Committee
Kevin B . Williams , President , KBW Professional Consulting Chair , National Association of Minority Companies , Inc . ( NAMCO )
Banned NBA owner , Don Sterling , is only one example of an “ Illusion of Inclusion ” as evidenced by the saddened long faces of some of the L . A . Clipper players . They were under the illusion , or impression , that Sterling had more respect for those who were making his franchise “ richer .”
At the height of this , is the embarrassment of an undeserved lifetime achievement award being presented to Sterling by the NAACP . As this was revealed , other minority-focused organizations were presenting similar awards , in recognition of diversity , to many who simply wrote checks . They did little to validate the amount spent ; not only for training programs , but the amounts spent directly in communities , or on subcontracts with minority firms and how those companies treat minorities , overall .
In these instances , the NAACP is not the only organization that would walk the hall of shame .
In the midst of a discussion with Turner Construction , an eight billion
The audacity to think that a $ 1,300 donation would somehow be interpreted as “ hush money .”
Think about it . “ Didn ’ t we write you a check ?” was posed on the very day the penalty for Sterling ’ s actions was released .
What does that tell you ?
The discussion of diversity , and its importance in educating future generations , is a topic that has been grossly misunderstood and consistently manipulated by both governmental institutions and private sector corporations . First , specifically with respect to business contracting , college education , and employment , there has been--and continues to be--a thread that binds them each to an erasable and endless struggle for equality .
In order to fully examine the context in which an analysis of diversity is relevant to understanding this topical phrase , “ illusion of inclusion ,” we need not look any further than its very definition . According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language “ diversity ” is defined as :
1 . a . “ The fact or quality of being diverse ; difference . b . A point or respect in which things differ . 2 . Variety ; multiformity : i . e ., a healthy
diversity in one ’ s diet .
Only one word , listed just above “ diversity ” in the dictionary , is “ diversionist ” and , in relevant part , it is described as “ one engaged in diversionary , disruptive , and subversive activities .” In my experience , from over 35 years in various professional capacities : Affirmative Action Assistant , Affirmative Action Specialist , and , thereafter , Senior Discrimination Investigator for the City and County of San Francisco Human Rights Commission ( Ret .), I have personally witnessed intractable resistance by courts , government agencies , boards , and commissions that have uniformly acted to subvert substantive change toward real and sustained equal opportunity . Dispassionate corporate interests have , likewise , followed in lock-step by masking their emboldened recalcitrance against any form of transparent inclusion of