Cities Work to Diversify Workforce
By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter
New Journal and Guide
Recently about 150 fire-rescue personnel from Norfolk, Richmond and other nearby communities gathered in Norfolk for a series of meetings not related to the latest techniques in fire fighting and life saving, but another factor which contributes to morale and a high level of service to the community.
The participants who were mostly Black, female or Hispanic attended the 2012 Equity and Diversity conference which had the theme, “Tracking Our Way to Success: Past, Present, and Future: Diversity and Equality 2012,” according to Norfolk Battalion Chief Julian E. Williamson, who was one of the hosts of the event.
Such events, he says, signify the growing effort of cities to diversify an area of public service which historically excluded not only Blacks, but women.
Race and Diversity in 2012: Part IV
By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide
Shedrick Byrd has earned a comfortable salary handling discrimination issues for more than 40 years, but unfairness causes most people to go down not move forward. On the one hand there are statistics and reports the size of an encyclopedia that show race, gender or sexual discrimination produce loss and pain. On the other hand, there is Byrd’s sterling career with the Navy that started in 1959 and a civil servant career that followed.
“Discrimination in the Navy helped in furthering my career,” said Byrd, who worked in human resources for the Navy as a chief petty officer before retiring in 1978. “And discrimination in civil service (also) helped to promote me,” said Byrd who worked in human resources at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard from 1981-2000 after he retired from the Navy.
According to a recent study by the Center for American Progress the price tag for discrimination amounts to an estimated $64 billion. But the total tab does not include hidden costs such as brain drain, decreased productivity, lost futures, and lawsuits.
Race and Diversity in 2012: Part III
By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide
Shedrick Byrd routinely held conversations on race and diversity in 1970, the year he was promoted from a Seaman Recruit to the Navy’s Equal Employment Opportunity Office.
Over coffee with yellow legal pads, he and Navy staff routinely discussed sensitivity training. They also held diversity seminars. And they frequently boarded deploying fighter squadrons to keep the dialogue going as Navy ships cruised through Asia and elsewhere for six months or longer. The game changer was face-to-face dialogue in an era when nightly newscasts showed protesters spilling into busy streets to express their concerns about war, civil rights, women’s rights, the environment, and space exploration.
Race and Diversity in 2012: Part II
By Rosaland Tyler
Associate Editor
New Journal and Guide
Diversity has moved from a dream to a reality in the 60 decades after Judge Louis H. Pollak worked with Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to influence pivotal cases. Pollak, a federal judge, died this month in Philadelphia at age 89. In the early 1950s, his work with Marshall and William T. Coleman helped to open doors at public schools that were segregated. They wrote briefs that launched the 1954 ruling that outlawed separate public schools.
“His personal crusade against bigotry defined his career and left a lasting mark on our nation,” said Michael Kunz, clerk of federal district court in a recent statement. “He leaves behind a rich legacy that will inspire future generations.’’ Their joint efforts shifted diversity from a dream to a reality. Marshall became a Supreme Court justice in 1967 and retired in 1991. Coleman, a co-author of the Brown v. Board of Education brief, went on to become transportation secretary in President Gerald Ford’s administration in the 1970s.