New Diversity Criteria for Admission...what to make of that?

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Feb 16, 2004

I once lived in an apartment complex where one tenant broke into a vacant apartment and caught in on fire.

The offending tenant told the landlord "I'm in a wheel-chair, and I'm an Indian. You can't touch me."

He was right. The law was afraid to prosecute the guy.

The landlord could not even get any legal cooperation to have the guy evicted.

It seems the pendulum always swings too far one way, then too far the other.

(BTW- the guy put himself in the wheel-chair, by driving drunk and causing an accident).

Sheri257 · Feb 16, 2004

The examples you mentioned are criminal. They have nothing to do with race. Don't blame the system because management didn't file charges on his employee. That was his problem not affirmative action. AA does not condone illegal activities by anyone of any race. If he was qualified enough to run a department he should atleast know that. I'm sorry but this story rings somewhat false to me. Like Judge Judy says, "If it doesn't make sense it's not true." Most of us know we have to tow the line and pray that others will as well because we know that if anything comes up missing we'll be the first blamed and the first fired. So either they suspect he's stealing but have no proof or it isn't true.

Hey, if it was my call, I would have filed charges. But I wasn't in management, so it wasn't my decision. I can tell you that one of the minorities was a fairly high profile TV personality, and the company was worried about bad publicity if they pursued a case against him. The company was also under pressure to hire more minorities at the time.

It was common knowledge around the office, mostly because everybody's records were scrutinized for the same thing. The accounting department was pretty upset about it. But hey, if you don't believe me, that's fine. I have no reason to make this up. That's what happened, believe it or not. *Shrug*

smk1, LPN · Feb 16, 2004

another thing to think about is that in any given job there is usually somebody who isn't pulling their weight or is a troublemaker. The problem comes in when the person is noticeably "different" from the other workers. their bad example can color your thinking about others. This is why everyone needs to make a true effort to judge people as people and not as members of sex/race/or other group. it's kind of like when someone is telling a story and says "oh some black guy stole my car" the fact that the guy was black has no bearing on the incident and just serves to feed a sterotype. I think we can all agree that affirmative action needs fixing but lets not let have resentment to the few who have benefitted from it. Rather think of better ways of leveling the playing field (and it does need leveling for many minorities who come from generations of poor education AND many of whom live in poor school districts with little chance of correcting the problem for the next generation.) Write to your congresmen about your ideas for improvement.

MyReign1 · Feb 16, 2004

Hey, if it was my call, I would have filed charges. But I wasn't in management, so it wasn't my decision. I can tell you that one of the minorities was a fairly high profile TV personality, and the company was worried about bad publicity if they pursued a case against him. The company was also under pressure to hire more minorities at the time.

That's a different story. I knew something had to be missing. Obviously, celebrities of any race are dealt with differently. If he were your average black men, they would have made an example out of him.

MyReign1 · Feb 16, 2004

I once lived in an apartment complex where one tenant broke into a vacant apartment and caught in on fire.
The offending tenant told the landlord "I'm in a wheel-chair, and I'm an Indian. You can't touch me."
He was right. The law was afraid to prosecute the guy.
The landlord could not even get any legal cooperation to have the guy evicted.).

Look at the jails. NO ONE is afraid to prosecute a black man.

fergus51 · Feb 16, 2004

another thing to think about is that in any given job there is usually somebody who isn't pulling their weight or is a troublemaker. The problem comes in when the person is noticeably "different" from the other workers. their bad example can color your thinking about others. This is why everyone needs to make a true effort to judge people as people and not as members of sex/race/or other group. it's kind of like when someone is telling a story and says "oh some black guy stole my car" the fact that the guy was black has no bearing on the incident and just serves to feed a sterotype. I think we can all agree that affirmative action needs fixing but lets not let have resentment to the few who have benefitted from it. Rather think of better ways of leveling the playing field (and it does need leveling for many minorities who come from generations of poor education AND many of whom live in poor school districts with little chance of correcting the problem for the next generation.) Write to your congresmen about your ideas for improvement.

I think that's a really good point. I never hear "My white coworker is so lazy", they usually don't even mention race, but when it's another race suddenly that becomes important to the story.

Sheri257 · Feb 16, 2004

That's a different story. I knew something had to be missing. Obviously, celebrities of any race are dealt with differently. If he were your average black men, they would have made an example out of him.

BTW, he wasn't a major celebrity. But he was well known enough to cause problems, which he threatened to do. I don't think playing the race card in a situation like that benefits minorities in the workplace.

I've got to be honest with you. I've never seen a company make a major example out of a black man or woman, for that matter. I'm sure it happens, but I didn't see it when this company launched an affirmative action program.

Some of the minority hires worked out, others didn't. But all of them kept their jobs when layoffs came down. The biggest concern was keeping enough minorities on the payroll.

All I'm saying is that the unfairness cuts both ways, and hurts both sides. Maybe it needs to be done anyway, since minorities are probably hurt most. But it's definitely a difficult situation.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Feb 16, 2004

It's also sad that everytime a black person gets a job over a white person, everyone automatically assumes that person was less qualified.

Not EVERYONE assumes this :nono:

nekhismom · Feb 16, 2004

Nekhismom, I'm very glad to hear that the Army feels that way. I was enlisted in the Navy for 6 years and it wasn't until my last advancement test when I worked for the Commanding Officer - that I found out they had one passing score for minorities and another for the rest of us. That was the main reason I got out. I worked in the Hospital Field and realized they were advancing less qualified people strictly based on race - it wasn't fair to those of us who got higher scores or the patients we were caring for.

Susan, I didn't say that discrimination DOESN'T happen, I just said that, in my experience, the race situation was being discussed, and that we were told that there were no differences. Now, seeing as how I wasn't running anything, I couldn't tell you what REALLY happened. I just thought that was a good policy to live by. I mean, after all, we're all HUMAN, right? Who really cares about the color of someone's skin? It's about the person's character.

In my experience, people discriminate against people who are different because they don't understand the different people. People BELIEVE stereotypes. As someone else pointed out, people are quick to say "some black guy stole my car", but how often do we hear "my white co-worker is so lazy"? I've been discriminated against many times, and I doubt that will change anytime in my life. But it isn't right.

And, I do think it is easier for non-minorities to not understand being discriminated against, and for non-minorities to say that affirmative action is unfair. And I don't care if I get because that is my opinion and I am entitled to it. I've seen it go both ways, because nobody really knows my race/ethnicity just by looking at me, and I don't disclose it. I'm not saying that minorities don't discriminate, just saying that one gets a different view of discrimination depending on what they see and grow up around.

nursepearl · Feb 16, 2004

Wow, this thread was very interesting for me to read. As a person of mixed race ( half mexcan and caucasian), I have seen and felt many sides of the race-card played. I know that even here in california where we have many hispanics, I am one of two hispanics in my nursing class of 60. I also know that of all of the clinical's I have been in, I have seen one hispanic RN. Minorities in the nursing field number 5% (taken from a online resource)! I know that I did not get into my nursing program because of my race and I cant see how it would be benifical for schools to play with racial issues as far as admission into nursing programs....there are far too few minioties even applying to nursing schools to make this action even benefical!

When I go to Nursing student conferencces I am likely to see as few as 50 hispanics in a group of 1,000.

I also found what Lizz said "So true. I believe that even the driving license test is designed differently to make it easier for minorities in California, and whites have to take a different test." This is SO not true! My white father had the same driving exam as I had! I have the exams to prove this!!!

Anyway, thats my take,

Pearl :rolleyes:

Ps. excuse any spelling errors, my mind was going faster than my fingers.

purplemania, BSN, RN · Feb 16, 2004

WOW, wouldn't it be nice if people were chosen for a PROFESSIONAL career on their credentials, not color? Seems like this "diversity" creates discrimination, rather than prevents it.

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Feb 16, 2004

WOW, wouldn't it be nice if people were chosen for a PROFESSIONAL career on their credentials, not color? Seems like this "diversity" creates discrimination, rather than prevents it.

Thank you :)