White / non-white worlds

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vnatale
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White / non-white worlds

Post by vnatale » Thu Sep 24, 2020 7:12 pm

Benefits Pro magazine is a magazine oriented towards professionals working in the benefits industry (primarily health insurance). I'd not classify it a magazine with a liberal slant. Or, a conservative slant. It's basically a magazine oriented towards business professionals in the benefits industry.

Just read two articles in its August 2020 issue which greatly illustrate some of the differences in the white and non-white worlds of our country.

The long, hard road to improving diversity in the benefits industry

Years of big talk and good intentions have failed to produce measurable change when it comes to diversity and inclusion in the benefits industry.

https://www.benefitspro.com/2020/08/03/long-hard-road/



“When I attend industry functions, we’re often the only African American firm there,” says Kareim Cade, founder and president of Great Lakes Benefit Group, located in Southfield, Michigan. “I actually took a picture at a recent conference, because there were 12 white males on the stage. That’s it. And they were speaking for the entire industry.


In an ideal world, if five equally qualified candidates walk into a job interview, they all have an even shot at the position. But reality is anything but ideal.

“When I was growing up, my parents and grandparents told me I had to be superior in order to be equal and get a fair play,” says Cade. “That’s unfair, but I’ve lived my life like that.”

Cade’s family was certainly not the only one to discuss this inequity, sometimes known as the “Black tax.”

“Before every Black family sends their children off into the world, they tell them, ‘You will have to do twice the work to receive equal treatment or pay,’” explains Woods.

This double standard manifests itself in a number of ways within the business world.

In an environment where many candidates are already connected to people in decision-making roles within a company, “the resumes and skillsets of diverse candidates must be two or three times better than those of their counterparts,” says Phillip Styles, executive vice president at Willis Towers Watson. “We need to exceed the requirements before we can take a position.

“That’s the way it is in corporate America,” he adds. “Going in, you know that as you move up the ladder, you’ll see fewer and fewer African Americans. Companies often refuse to pick a minority candidate who doesn’t have the exact experience they’re looking for. But if you think about it, no one has the experience for a new job they’re going into. The difference is, we’re not allowed to have that learning curve.”


Styles recalls a time at a previous company when he was chosen to help launch a division. His group consisted of six African Americans, two Hispanics and one white person. Meanwhile, other teams, formed and led by his peers, were 100 percent white.

After two consecutive years in which his team’s sales numbers “kicked their butts,” Styles’ boss approached him about “diversifying my team” after receiving complaints from others in the division. Styles told him, “If we’re going to have this conversation, let’s all have the conversation. It can’t be a situation where, because I have six African American people on my team, I’m only hiring Black people, whereas no one is saying anything to my peers, whose teams are all white.”

Afterward, his boss apologized. “He had been looking at it through the eyes of my peers, rather than through our eyes. As a Black leader, if I hire three Black candidates, it doesn’t look right to certain people. Yet to them, it looks normal to have an all white team. When you point it out, they say, ‘I’ve never looked at it that way before.’ But we do every day.”



Cade describes a similar thought process. “There are still times where people don’t want to talk to me, even when I’m more qualified than the folks they’re dealing with,” he says. “My firm is largely African American, and I sometimes tell them, ‘For this prospect, we might need to call in a white broker, because if the three of us show up, that may be a little intimidating.’ That’s not a thought that anyone in most agencies is taking into account. We have to think about how to make it comfortable for them so we can even get in the door and tell them our story. That’s a huge challenge.”


The pull of the familiar is hard to escape, and those in positions of power and decision-making roles typically choose people with whom they’re comfortable. “They’re not comfortable being uncomfortable,” says Styles. “Most brokerages and carriers have a leadership that looks the same. Pick a company. Everyone says we’ll be different or have a concerted effort, but all too often, they come up with reasons not to do it.”

In the business world, it’s often all about who you know, which can create impenetrable barriers for those who aren’t on the inside. “We hang around with people we know and when opportunities come up, we think of them first,” says Hurd. “To create change, we have to step out of that box of who we know and be intentional and deliberate.”


On any given day, when I put on my suit and bow tie, I’m great. But when I put on a baseball cap and a jogging suit, I could be George Floyd at any point in time.


Changing our course: A call to create an industry of inclusion and diversity

We cannot stand silent and allow this moment to simply be one more that passes. Nor is it enough to use our voices only until the initial outrage subsides. We must use this moment as a catalyst for change.

https://www.benefitspro.com/2020/06/11/ ... diversity/


Perspective helps
In business, you are always looking for an unfair advantage. I love that idea when it comes to business. However, nobody should be put at an unfair disadvantage when it comes to life.

The evening before I wrote this, I sat with my son and watched and discussed videos about an amazing woman named Jane Elliott. As happens so often during conversations with my son, I learned a lesson and gained a new perspective.

I know it’s probably impossible for me, and likely most of you reading this, to have a true appreciation for what it means to live as a black person in a white person’s world. However, I know you have an appreciation for just how unfair that is at a very real level.

With one simple request of her audience, Jane Elliott made this painfully clear. I’ll make that request of you: Of those of you who are white, if you would be happy to be treated in the same way black members of our society are treated, raise your hand.

If you aren’t raising your hand, read this last line one more time to be sure you understood the request. I’m guessing there still aren’t many who have raised their hand. As Jane pointed out, the lack of raised hands means we understand what’s happening. You know you don’t want this treatment for you. So, why are we so willing to accept it and allow it to happen for others?

Her point is worth repeating. How can we accept and allow others to be treated in a way that not a single one of us would ever want for ourselves? Sobering, isn’t it?

Now raise your hand if you agree now is the time. Raise your hand if you are willing to invest your time, money, and personal growth to help right this tragic wrong.

Our industry makes a positive difference for many every day; let’s focus that ability where it is most needed today.
Above provided by: Vinny, who always says: "I only regret that I have but one lap to give to my cats." AND "I'm a more-is-more person."
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Xan
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Re: White / non-white worlds

Post by Xan » Thu Sep 24, 2020 8:43 pm

That's silly.

A huge chunk of this describes the problem as being "not what you know, but who you know". Then it describes that as being a racial problem, which it isn't. It's just as bad for the white folks who aren't "known", which is the vast majority of them. It may be that the result is a lot of white people in an industry, but that doesn't mean it's because of racism.

Then the bit about "raise your hand if you want to be treated like black people are treated." Well, for one thing, white people who are passed over for jobs because they don't know the right people don't have anybody advocating for them. It seems to me that people are falling all over themselves to hire qualified black people.

John McWhorter has addressed this: he says that way back in the day, you would rather be a dirt poor white guy than a successful black guy. You'd say "at least I'm not black". He doesn't think that's true anymore, and hasn't been for a long time. He posited a hypothetical choice given to a white person: you could become black, or you could have acne on your face. They'll pick being black every time. That shows you how far we've come.
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Re: White / non-white worlds

Post by Mark Leavy » Thu Sep 24, 2020 9:40 pm

I have a simple capitalist filter that I put on these type of articles.

IF (XYX) person is being underpaid or under hired - even though HE/SHE/IT can do the same job as someone that is paid more...

Then, Bingo. I can make a fortune building a company around that (XYZ) type of people. Same output, lower payroll.

I wonder why that never happens? Why don't you see female entrepreneurs popping up all over the place making a killing hiring only women? Are all of the women entrepreneurs misogynist?

Why aren't there black entrepreneurs popping up all over the place hiring black engineers and putting the Indian H1B visas out of business? Are all of the black entrepreneurs racist?

Does no one want to pick up all of this free money that is just sitting out there for the taking?
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Re: White / non-white worlds

Post by pp4me » Fri Sep 25, 2020 10:09 am

vnatale wrote:
Thu Sep 24, 2020 7:12 pm
On any given day, when I put on my suit and bow tie, I’m great. But when I put on a baseball cap and a jogging suit, I could be George Floyd at any point in time.
That line is the "tell" on this author's bullshit. George Floyd didn't get killed from just putting on a baseball cap and a jogging suit. He ended up dead because he was passing counterfeit bills, was high on a lethal dose of fentanyl and resisted arrest.
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Re: White / non-white worlds

Post by Kriegsspiel » Fri Sep 25, 2020 5:11 pm

vnatale wrote:
Thu Sep 24, 2020 7:12 pm
Benefits Pro magazine is a magazine oriented towards professionals working in the benefits industry (primarily health insurance). I'd not classify it a magazine with a liberal slant. Or, a conservative slant. It's basically a magazine oriented towards business professionals in the benefits industry.
On the other hand, if it wokes like a duck and qwokes like a duck...
You there, Ephialtes. May you live forever.
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Re: White / non-white worlds

Post by Mountaineer » Fri Sep 25, 2020 6:12 pm

Word of the day: qwokes

O0
DNA has its own language (code), and language requires intelligence. There is no known mechanism by which matter can give birth to information, let alone language. It is unreasonable to believe the world could have happened by chance.
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Re: White / non-white worlds

Post by Libertarian666 » Sat Sep 26, 2020 12:27 pm

Mark Leavy wrote:
Thu Sep 24, 2020 9:40 pm
I have a simple capitalist filter that I put on these type of articles.

IF (XYX) person is being underpaid or under hired - even though HE/SHE/IT can do the same job as someone that is paid more...

Then, Bingo. I can make a fortune building a company around that (XYZ) type of people. Same output, lower payroll.

I wonder why that never happens? Why don't you see female entrepreneurs popping up all over the place making a killing hiring only women? Are all of the women entrepreneurs misogynist?

Why aren't there black entrepreneurs popping up all over the place hiring black engineers and putting the Indian H1B visas out of business? Are all of the black entrepreneurs racist?

Does no one want to pick up all of this free money that is just sitting out there for the taking?
Yes, that is exactly the point that no one in the media ever makes.
Are they really that stupid, or are they just corrupt hacks?
I guess they could be both!
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Re: White / non-white worlds

Post by Libertarian666 » Sat Sep 26, 2020 12:29 pm

pp4me wrote:
Fri Sep 25, 2020 10:09 am
vnatale wrote:
Thu Sep 24, 2020 7:12 pm
On any given day, when I put on my suit and bow tie, I’m great. But when I put on a baseball cap and a jogging suit, I could be George Floyd at any point in time.
That line is the "tell" on this author's bullshit. George Floyd didn't get killed from just putting on a baseball cap and a jogging suit. He ended up dead because he was passing counterfeit bills, was high on a lethal dose of fentanyl and resisted arrest.
Isn't it odd that no one can find actual examples of innocent blacks being gunned down by police? According to the narrative, it happens many times each day, and yet all of the supposed examples turn out to be something entirely different.

Of course it can't be that these examples don't really exist.

Can it?
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Re: White / non-white worlds

Post by Libertarian666 » Sat Sep 26, 2020 12:31 pm

vnatale wrote:
Thu Sep 24, 2020 7:12 pm
...
With one simple request of her audience, Jane Elliott made this painfully clear. I’ll make that request of you: Of those of you who are white, if you would be happy to be treated in the same way black members of our society are treated, raise your hand.
...
I think Rachel Dolezal and all the other whites who claimed to be black in order to get benefits that they couldn't get otherwise would raise their hands.

If they were honest, that is. ;)
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