Concerning Blacks And Affirmative Action:
To understand the casual roots and sustaining conditions of discrimination and disadvantagement that minorities in general, and Blacks in particular, have encountered in America requires a succinct review of American history. What emerges in the conclusion, is that the economic and employment disadvantagement of the Black American is not a single issue, but a composite of interrelated issues. The Black man is not a recent arrival to American society and cannot be expected to repeat the cycle of assimilation and social mobility which many immigrant groups experienced. The Blackman's exclusion is not a matter of cultural The historical practices of employment discrimination rest not only on the denial of equal employment practices within the American social structure nor the psychological The employment problem experienced by many Blacks, must be viewed in several aspects of dimensions: The patterns of residential segregation that typify metropolitan and other urban areas that create an ecological Deteriorated community and institutional facilities The educational and skills deficiencies on the part of many Blacks The escalating rise of unemployment and under employment, especially among blacks The backdrop of national manpower needs and issues Current technological advancements which are making sweeping changes in the whole structure of jobs and job opportunities Thus, the problem of equal employment opportunity can We need a new and innovative educational system in the urban areas with a new curriculum and new relationship with other institutions such as libraries, for example, which are underutilized in most urban areas and could easily become adjuncts to the basic educational system in the neighborhoods. We need schools with dormitories attached to them in the urban areas so that the children with family problems could have some alternative living arrangements. We need a complete revamping of the educational system to tie in day camps, personnel training and a whole battery of programs to give new and tailored experiences to children whom other wise do not have such benefits. We need to develop new patterns of home ownership. We also need new ways of constructing housing with locally based organizations being a major force in the decision making process. We need new organizations, block associations, etc., that has developed the muscle to improve the local environment and who have a clear cut stake in the nature and quality of local urban neighborhoods. Career Development We must orient current job development programs towards real career opportunities, not just jobs. We must concentrate on providing through welfare or a guaranteed annual income the type of economic assistance, families in urban areas need to develop strategies that will develop careers. The minority population, must be oriented towards permanent placement in the economic and social life of the city. We need to develop minority businesses from emerging public policy programs. New Pattern Of Social Services Low income people are still dependent on public welfare and health services to supply many of their daily needs. This situation for many citizens will not diminish soon. The delivery of services must not be provided in such a way that people are made to feel the worse for it. The status advancement process must remove the stigmas attached to people who apply for these services
Over the past four decades, the Federal Government has demonstrated a growing concern for the rights of minorities, after nearly three quarters of a century of governmental indifference. The courts have led the way, providing substantive civil rights meaning to the broadconstitutional mandates of the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment and the due process clause of the 5th Amendment. The Executive branch followed, through a series of Executive Orders by the last six Presidents, directing Federal departments and agencies to assure against discrimination in their own activities and in the practices of those with whom they deal.
Congress was the last of the three branches to act. Since 1957, Congress has enacted five Civil Rights Laws, including the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the fair Housing Law of 1968. Equal employment opportunity is mandated by a host of Federal enactment's, statutes, judicial decisions interpreting the Constitution, and Executive Orders and regulations. Together, these enactment's constitute a comprehensive ban on job discrimination, covering Federal, State and Local jobs and nearly all private employment. Almost any act of discrimination by government or private employer violates some aspect of Federal Law. The remedies available to redress such discrimination, however, vary widely in their scope and efficacy." Summary, The Federal Civil Rights Enforcement Effort," A Report of the United States Commission on Civil Rights 1971, p. 1, Clearinghouse Publication No. 31, Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC. Cited hereafter as " Summary "
AN HISTORICAL COMPENDIUM
strangeness bred in a foreign land, but rather a product of American society--the decades and centuries of political disfranchisement and de factosegregation.
CONCERNING BLACKS AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
and attitudinal prejudices manifested by the white race and perpetrated on the black race. To view employment inequalities that Black people have experienced as a product of prejudicial attitudes is to fail to recognize that patterns of exclusion are not merely psychological side issues in an otherwise sound social and economic
structure. In the context of Blacks and jobs, attitudes are relevant only insofar as they give rise to and sustain inequities in the opportunity structure which affects employment. The strategy which places attitudinal changes as the antecedents of social change neglects the significance of structural barriers limiting the
Blackman's access to job opportunities.
The context of the urban social milieu
barrier
be relegated to an aggregate of issues and conditions
which must be addressed and in many instances rectified
if Black people are to achieve full parity in the American
social, educational and economic system.
EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
The Civil Rights Act of 1964, was the result developments
on both the protest and legislative front. However,
it should be noted that as far back as the era of the
" New Deal " minorities had been protesting
the inequities that were prevalent practices in American
society.
In 1941, Executive Order 8802, established a Fair Employment
Practice Committee and decreed that there should be
no discrimination in the
CONCERNING BLACKS AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL EMPLOYMENT
OPPORTUNITY
Executive Order, 9346 was established to reaffirm the
governments attempt at equalizing employment opportunities.
Executive Order 10479, promulgated in 1953, reiterated
that the governments' policy was to insure support
for all qualified citizens. The committee established
under this Executive Order attempted to intensify the
fight against discrimination by; clarifying and strengthening
the nondiscrimination clause government contracts and
further developing the complaint procedure and implementing
the procedure for compliance
The most far reaching of all Executive Orders aimed
at eliminating discrimination in employment was Executive
Order 10925, issued in 1961 which established the Equal
Employment Opportunity Committee. The aims and intentions
of the order did not differ significantly in substance
from previous orders, but it did however, represent
a milestone in executive administrative action. The
new order provided for specified sanctions to be levied
in the event of non-compliance by a firm doing business
with the Government , and changed the committee to
use the tools that were available to its predecessors,
but never used by them.
These tools levied upon the committee included the authority
to; cancel government contracts to employers who practiced
discrimination; the power to block future contracts
due to non-compliance; the power to assume jurisdiction
over any complaint filed with a constricting agency
with the Government, as well as any cases pending;
to initiate inquiries or direct investigations.
Under this new mandate, emphasis was placed primarily
upon the realization that continued discrimination
in employment is a violation of basic individual rights
and interferes with the effective utilization of
nation's manpower resources. Title VII of the 1964
Civil Rights Act, provided for pragmatic coverage and
applicability to equalizing employment opportunities
beyond the federal and federally contracted employment
sector.
Title VII states, categorically, that; employment discrimination
is prohibited by employers with 25 or more employees,
labor unions with 25 or more members or those which
operate hiring halls, and employment agencies which
regularly obtain employees for an employer covered
by the title.
Other important prohibitions of the Act include;
It is an unlawful employment practice for an employment
agency to classify an individual, or to fail or refuse
to refer him for employment, or otherwise discriminate
against him on the basis of race, color, religion,
sex, or national origin.
It is an unlawful employment practice for a labor organization
to exclude a person from its membership or to discriminate
among its members in any way, or to attempt to persuade
an employer to discriminate on the basis of race, color,
religion, sex, or national origin.
CONCERNING BLACKS AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL EMPLOYMENT
OPPORTUNITY
Discrimination on the ground of race, color, religion,
sex, or national origin in admission to or employment
in any apprenticeship or other training program, including
on-the-job training, is prohibited.
Recrimination for opposing unfair employment practices
or for instigating or testifying in any proceeding
brought under the title are prohibited.
On the other hand the Act provides that it is not unlawful
employment practices
To employ an individual on the basis of his religion,
sex, national origin when one of those is a bona fide
occupational qualification reasonably necessary to
the normal operation of a particular establishment.
For an educational institution owned, supported, controlled
or managed by a religious organization, or one whose
curriculum is directed toward the propagation of a
particular religion, to hire and employ persons of
that religion in any of its activities.
To apply different conditions of employment, including
compensation, based on a bona fide seniority or merit
system, piece work, or job location system, so long
as the differences do not result from an intentional
act of discrimination because of race, color, sex,
religion, or national origin.
To act upon the results of a professionally developed
ability test so long as the test is not designed to
discriminate because of race, color, religion, sex.
or national origin.
AFFIRMATION ACTION
The passage of civil rights bills and executive orders
are only law a which create an environment for the
changes that are needed before full and equal employment
can be made a reality to Blacks and other minorities.
Although the " legal " right to equal employment
opportunity is broadly protected, one of the
major means for securing it
" in fact " through enforcement and penalized
non-compliance is lacking.
To this end, one of the most interesting programs in
the field of civil rights was initiated by the Vice
President, Lyndon B. Johnson during the early part
of the Kennedy Administration. The " Plans for
Progress " was a program which called for commitment
on the part of major companies, unions, and other organized
labor firms to take voluntary action in compliance
with the new civil rights acts, and to recruit, hire,
promote, pay, and train persons who had here to fore
been denied equal access to employment. Meaning, Blacks,
Spanish surnamed, and women. This program was a catalyst
for the program we commonly call today " Affirmative
Action ." Affirmative Action is a program
CONCERNING BLACKS AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL EMPLOYMENT
OPPORTUNITY
designed to serve as a low key enforcement mechanism,
whereby employees more or less validate their efforts
to comply with the laws and
executive orders concerning equal employment opportunities
for minorities.
Affirmative Action is a program geared to act as a check
and balance system in the personnel functions of a
organization. As such, it monitors the companies in
their efforts to fulfill the requirements stipulated
by law, that is, not to deny employment, or employment
opportunities to an individual based on race, color,
sex, religion, or national origin. Affirmative Action,
through the National Labor Relations Act, has extended
its coverage and applicability to include not only,
employers, but also employee labor unions. Employee
unions are obligated to act fairly, impartially and
without discrimination in membership solicitation and
employee representation.
The Office of Contract Compliance (OFCC) has responsibility
for coordinating and overseeing the entire Federal
Contract Compliance Program. Recently, the OFCC has
issued directives defining affirmative action requirements
to its contractors. Although affirmative action programs
have been established by a majority of business in
America, more efforts should be focused on enforcement
and amelioration of discriminatory employment practices.
PRESENT STATE OF THE ART
Generally, civil rights laws have been most successful
in dealing with practices that do not require complex
institutional change. The desegregation of the public
accommodations, hospitals, and other facilities required
basic, but simple changes in conduct, and was accomplished
without massive opposition or Federal enforcement.
In fields where complex institutional change is required,
and there has been little direct intervention in the
part of the Federal Government, progress has been slow
in coming and in some instances it can barely be discerned.
In the employment field, elimination of discriminatory
practices to facilitate full participation of minority
group members in the Nation's economic mainstream has
proved to be a complex process. Minorities are still
grossly under-represented in the higher eschleon salary
brackets. Minorities are hired and locked into closed-end
jobs with little hope of achieving any substantial
growth or advancement. They are hired, promoted, and
paid on a scale that is bipartisan in scope and nature,
and which acts as a deterrent to their full participation
in the nation's economic system.
Affirmative Action programs although resolute in intent,
have not proved themselves as resolutions to the problems
that Blacks cuttingly encounter when seeking employment,
promotions or other forms of remuneration. Affirmative
action implies change and impacts upon the values and
beliefs of the controlling minority which includes
policy makers who have the basic responsibility for
the integration of such change.
CONCERNING BLACKS AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL EMPLOYMENT
OPPORTUNITY
PROSPECTUS
If affirmative action programs are to remain viable
and achieve their goals, that is the amelioration of
discrimination in employment and advance the rights
of all citizens to equal opportunity, a unilateral
approach consisting of substantive and coherent changes
must be applied with a conatus effort in the part of
all parties concerned. Included in this effort are
the following recommendations:
That Affirmative Action programs be relegated to a
higher status within the corporate structure and administered
by top management officials.
That the Federal government lend assistance in developing
affirmative action programs and guidelines of sufficient
breadth and specificity that it will lend itself to
a more uniform application in setting priorities and
policies toward the achievement of specified goals.
All affirmative action programs goals and guidelines
should specifically delineate the steps and procedures
by which the goals will be measured and completed.
These should include: a time table for achievement;
the way in which the program will be geared; compliance
and enforcement mechanisms spelled out in terms of
their utilization and interim evaluation dates and
revision policies relevant effort should be made on
the part of educational institutions to ensure "
Quality " education for residents of he inner-city.
Career development and career path programs should be
a built-in component of the affirmative action program.
Career planning should be initiated at every level of
employment.
Minorities should be actively recruited into training
and development programs sponsored by the organization.
Affirmative action policies and goals should under go
interim evaluation by the organization and necessary
revisions made.
There should not be any " Quota " systems
set in terms of the number of minorities hired, promoted,
or given additional training.
A measurable merit system based solely on job performance
abilities or potential should be utilized in the selection
training and hiring of minorities, based on organizational
manpower needs.
The stability and effectiveness of the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission could be greatly enhanced by
the elimination of some fundamental weaknesses and
inadequacies in civil rights compliance, thereby making
affirmative action programs burgeoning catalyst in
the elimination of discrimination and discriminatory
practices in other areas. Some of these fundamental
weaknesses are:
CONCERNING BLACKS AND AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL EMPLOYMENT
OPPORTUNITY
Inadequate staff and other resources to conduct civil
rights enforcement
activities with maximum effectiveness.
Lack of authority and subordinate status of agency civil
rights officials.
Failure to define civil rights goals with sufficient
specificity or breadth.
Failure to coordinate civil rights and substantive programs.
Undue emphasis on voluntary compliance and failure to
make sufficient use of available sanctions to enforce
civil rights laws.
Failure to provide adequate coordination and direction
to agencies having common civil rights responsibilities.
Failure to collect and utilize racial and ethnic data
in planning and evaluating progress toward goals.
CONCLUSION
Major efforts have been made to eliminate the injust
and unfair practice of discrimination. To date full
realizations of these efforts are negligible. As our
society marches into the twenty first century, it regretfully
carries with it, some of the archaic beliefs and practices
for which we as a nation, condemn other nations for.
Through conjecture, prejudice and real or imaged threats,
a valuable resource to our nation , human resources,
has been systematically and consistently shut out.
Armed with an areas of laws, orders, and mandates, the
Government has failed to make a major impact or developed
a mechanism whereby, it can secure the rights of liberty,
justice and equality to a portion of its citizens.
America cannot be left to blunder into the future,
and attack with iconoclastic views the world of those
around her. In acknowledging and even advancing the
rights of its " minorities, " America will
be securing " its own rights."
The problems of hostile bureaucracies that view civil
rights as a threat to their own programs and prerogative
coupled with the problems of inadequate or misordered
priorities, cannot be solved through mandatory sanctions
or harsh enforcement mechanisms. The problem of discrimination
lies deep within our social structure. It has its foundation
in the very core of society and is treated as an embellishment
for others to pattern after.
Equal employment and affirmative action programs are
just small beginnings through which the compliance
of and initiation of other efforts with a similar purpose
can help to impede our rush toward economic and social
genocide.
STRATEGY FOR IMPROVING CITIES.
Alan Joplin
The problems of poverty, jobs and sub-standard housing,
are ills currently used to categorize our cities.
These are symptoms of a much larger fundamental problem--one
that is much more subtle and sophisticated. It centers
on the inability of minorities, to gain entrance
into the mainstream of the city's economic and social
life. There has always been various ways for groups
at the lower end of the social and economic scale to
improve, to get ahead and to function in an advancing
society. Clearly, this problem is related to jobs
and income, but providing jobs or guaranteeing an annual
wage will not insure that the basic, fundamental
problem of status is resolved. Unless we are able
to find ways to resolve the issues of status in the
urban community, the cities will continue to be the
source of substantial tensions, threatened by an increasingly
difficult climate for it's residents.
Sociologist, anthropologists and others have devoted
their lives to developing a basic understanding of
the fundamental problems of people and their needs.
The breakdown in the status advancement system as
we experience it today is rooted in :
1. The basic structure of the family
2. The various egos, eccentricities and prejudices.
3. The status situations, of lower income groups
4. The middle class whites in the cities who hold the key to whether low income minorities are able to participate and advance.
5. The nature of communications among people living in
the city
6. The lack of economic and social security, among the population immediately above the lowest status minorities
An analysis of what the problems are in the breakdown
of status advancement is key to determining the solutions.
Without this analysis we will always give solutions
but will they be the right ones. We will continue
to waste money and energy, and we will continue
to frustrate not only community people, but the people
and those involved in government as well. We need
to develop comprehensive methods for defining the fundamental
problems and issues that are at the root of the city's
problems as an essential part of the process of making
governmental decisions. What are these problems and
how do we go about looking at them?
It is important to point out that the way I am defining
this problem creates a unique situation for governmental
planning. I believe, the major threat to the future
welfare of minorities who, if they can get ahead in
society, will ease the problem; but if they do not,
can cause a major breakdown in the operation of the
city and the broader society of which it is an instrument.
Concentrating on this segment of the city's population
is our most important task in insuring a safe future
for others. In a very basic sense, the problems of
status advancement cannot be categorized or analyzed
simply. Governmental programs must be designed out
of an analysis of what problems need to be addressed.
Programs are created without a careful analysis
made of what the real problems are. Poorly defined
problems lead to poorly defined solutions. This is
a situation we must avoid. Let me give you a few
examples of how this works:
Housing programs and policies were created fundamentally,
to overcome the problems of poor structural conditions.
A Large segment of the housing stock across the
country was in poor physical condition. The policy
to rid the community of sub-standard housing was developed
to eliminate sub-standard housing and rebuild. The
results of this particular definition and the solutions
that sprang from it are obvious and only marginally
helpful. We provided some new housing, but we have
hardly housed the needy population , and in many instances,
the physical conditions have not even improved. The
problem definition did not take into account the frightening
social costs of involuntary relocation, the effects
on rents, the ability of families to use housing
as a tool for their own social and economic achievement.
When defining the problem of jobs for urban residents,
we continually hear that the insufficient number of
jobs and high unemployment rates can be remedied if
we can get more job opportunities into the urban areas.
If we were to build more factories, office buildings,
in and around the urban areas, the residents would
have job opportunities close at hand. Here again,
over simplification of this particular problem may
lead us to solutions that do not get to the root causes.
Providing new factory jobs in urban areas for urban
residents may not be the best way to get them into
the mainstream of the city's economic life. This is
not the growing segment of job opportunity, and to
build our plans for job development on this basis can
be misleading and potentially destructive.
In the area of education, we have done a relatively
poor job of problem definition about the urban areas.
We explain this situation by saying schools in the
urban areas are bad, and as a result of this we must
integrate and change everything around, including throwing
out the boards of education and the existing teaching
staffs. This is a response to a poorly defined
problem and does not necessarily lead to the basic
solutions that are required. Integrating the schools
may not necessarily mean the children who need to grab
on to some kind of learning experience are really going
to get it. Substituting a local group to run a school
instead of the remote board of education may well improve
the relationships between the local community and its
educators, but there is no guarantee that the children
will benefit.
I want to share with you the problems of developing
a program based on a strategy that defines the major
goal for the city as improving this complicated system
through which people move ahead and advance into the
mainstream of the city's social and economic life.
There are four major "actors" who are
dealing in one way or another with this problem. First,
there is city government. This is the government
that most city dwellers look to for the solution of
their problems, both real and imaginary and holds
itself out to be the intimate solvers of the so-called
nitty-gritty problems of the city. Faced with today's
situation, city government's orientation to its traditional
service functions and delivery systems is its major
draw back. The systems for delivering welfare, education,
housing and other massive services that have a tremendous
affect on the future of individuals who meet with them
and use them are really out-dated. These all have good
motives, but their operations are designed to deal
with situations that are not necessarily those that
are most important today.
The laws under which the city governments operate are
also major restraints. Very often there are limiting
ground rules that restrict the scope and type of operation
that city government agencies are able to undertake.
In housing, there are many good examples of this.
For instance, eligibility rules for who may get into
public housing projects have traditionally made it
difficult to house many needy families.
Bureaucratic problems are another major restraint. The
petty competitiveness of city agencies fighting with
each other for a share of the lime-light takes up a
surprising amount of the energy of government. This
phenomenon, well known to all who have ever worked
in agencies where narrow-minded competition to operate
a particular program or to support a particular function
consumes large amounts of everyone's time. Basic leadership,
guidance, support and good city management can do a
lot to overcome this particular problem, but in very
few governmental set-ups does this situation exist
today.
The change in direction of welfare services is a good
example; we are slowly beginning to move the welfare
bureaucracy from its traditional role of handing out
checks to the needy, to an agency that provides services
to help dignify and improve one's lot in life. This
has not been an easy process.
Private business and industry are also major actors.
In earlier eras in the development of the city, private
industry was the initiator of most things that happened.
Today, this is not necessarily the case because most
of the problems faced by the city are not those in
which private industry has the interests or incentives
for getting involved. Governmental policies are designed
to encourage private industry to do public jobs and
to assume the responsibilities of what was once a public
responsibility.
Our methods for subsidizing housing have clearly been
aimed in this direction; however, there is a real problem
of whether the fundamental motives in private industry
are consistent with solving the problems of the city
today. This is not to say that the motives are not
legitimate. To make a buck is an acceptable, necessary
and fundamental part of life, but the modus operandi
of private business doesn't seem to be appropriate
for solving city problems or capable of providing leadership,
resources and programs for such problem solving.
This is not to say that private industry cannot play
a key role, it can and must. The hiring practices
of industry; investment practices, such as the local
banks will grant mortgages; and the practices of the
white collar industries in particular in absorbing
a new labor force into their important career creating
opportunities, are all places in which private industry
must help the city overcome these problems. If it
was able to do this on its own without any prodding
from government this would be fine, but this has not
happened to date;and government, through its own incentives
and programs, must provide more direct and pointed
leadership in this regard. .
Local community groups and organizations are a third
actor. These may be the great hope for the future
improvement of the status advancement in the city,
but right now these groups present a chaotic picture
and a diffuse ability to act. Our current experience
of this program in the community action program has
really helped to create an important new thrust by
setting up local community corporations that are able
to organize and promote local and ethnic interests.
These community corporations have responded to the
gaping hole that has been left for the current generation
of low income people who in previous generations in
city development were helped by the church, major ethnic
organizations and major governmental institutions like
the local political boss, ward healer, police and fire
departments and other agencies of government. The
major drawback to these efforts right now is that no
very large scale and concerted programs of action have
resulted.
In most instances, the poverty programs have concentrated
on political battles, fighting the bad guys, beating
up the establishment, and otherwise developing what
may be a much needed and important part of the process
-- local energy and enthusiasm. This is all well and
good, but eventually, hopefully sooner, a specific
and pointed program of action has to emerge from these
efforts. If this were to happen quickly, a major solution
to the status advancement problem could result.
The fourth set of actors on the scene is the federal
and state governments. These are critically important
from two points of view: first, for setting the moral
tone for national policies and program priorities;
and second, for providing the resources. Right now
we are handicap on both counts. The moral leadership
of government has been put to serious and justified
question. Part of this problem is that the major resources
for the programs we have been talking about are not
forthcoming from the only source that there is. Even
if this atmosphere changes', there is a real problem
of enabling state and federal governments to deliver
the kinds of intimate services and programs that are
needed to get this status advancement system working
properly.
Where do we go from here?
My conclusions, confused and searching as they are:
* We need new sets of institutions directly aimed
at the problems of status advancement. These
must be organizations that have the energy and motivation
of the Community Action Programs of the sixties and
seventies.
* The action and organizational drive of private
enterprise, especially the best private businesses
who have the ability to achieve, not only what they
talk about, purposeful action.
* The power and knowledge of municipal government
which still sits astride the most important
areas of concern, even though it's slow and it's
credibility is nonexistent when it comes to dealing
with these problems.
* The resources and support of federal and state
governments where the dollars are.
In addition, we clearly need individual initiative particularly
on the part of people who are struggling to get ahead.
They cannot operate effectively alone, as individuals.
Low-income groups of any society have always had
to have some kind of organization to get ahead. We
need new forms, of organizations and institutions
that has an urban focus but, who are not tied to vested
interest. Where appropriate, some of these organizations
must and should have a neighborhood focus, but there
needs to be more than this. Many organizations need
a client or functional focus, such as organizations
to train or educate people of various ages. We need
many different organizations, not one huge monolithic
structure. These new corporate entities must direct
their energies toward the major areas of concern:
Education
Housing and Community Development
