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Bias Hinders Diversity in Hiring for Environmental Organizations By Anthony Advincula

Dec. 26, 2016

Bias Hinders Diversity in Hiring for Environmental Organizations
By Anthony Advincula

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(TriceEdneyWire.com) — Diversity at the leadership level in the environmental sector remains low despite a high proportion of well-educated and qualified people of color in the United States, according to a report released last Thursday. The problem: systemic bias in the hiring process, but also environmental organizations’ unwillingness to mandate diversity when using a search firm.

Diversity Derailed: Limited Demand, Effort and Results in Environmental C-Suite Searches, produced by Green 2.0, found that nearly 90 percent of search consultants – which are frequently used by mainstream environmental NGOs and foundations – have encountered bias on the part of the organizations using them during their search for senior-level positions. 

Search firms often hold the key to diverse hiring in executive positions – the question now is how organizations can use search firms effectively.

According to Green 2.0’s report, most search firms allow their client organizations to take the lead in terms of whether or not they’re interested in mandating a diverse slate of applicants. If a client does not mention that diversity is a priority, less than half of search firms report mandating a diverse slate.

Notably, only 28 percent of environmental NGOs and 44 percent of environmental foundations mandate that there must be some sort of diversity represented on their short lists for candidates.

The result? People of color account for just 12 to 16 percent of the staff at mainstream environmental organizations. And there’s even less diversity in upper management, according to Green 2.0 executive director Whitney Tome.

The methodology used in the study includes surveys and in-depth interviews of 85 executive managers, hiring directors, and search consultants in the environmental field.

University of Connecticut associate professor of sociology Maya Beasley, who authored the study, says that while there has been an increasingly diverse constituency in the United States, there has been a limited effort to address why environmental organizations are still racially homogeneous.

“This [study] is one of the few to examine the specific organizational practices that show workplace inequality, not only in the environmental sector but in any sector or industry,” she says. “And it is the first study that solely focuses on the efficacy of search firms on the practices that they employ to increase diversity.” 

Although nearly three-quarters of NGOs and foundations could identify benefits associated with diversity in an organization, most admitted to having trouble diversifying, particularly at senior levels. 

Their reasons include that their organizations “do not have a culture of inclusivity,” that there is always a “bad cultural fit for applicants of color unrelated to their qualifications,” or that the people of color that they do recruit are “not well known so members of the search committee may be reluctant to support their candidacy.”

But even beyond culture, nearly half of NGOs and one-fourth of foundations “agreed that there are not enough qualified [people of color] applicants.” 

On this, many environmental advocates and academics do not agree.

“I can attest to the growing qualifications of people of color. We have a large pool of highly educated candidates,” says Michelle DePass, dean of the New School’s Milano School of International Affairs and director of Tishman Environment and Design Center. “The environmental leadership has still been white; that should not be so in the 21st century.”

According to Beasley, it may be a long journey to fully achieve diversity at the leadership level in every sector, but it should start with major players in each organization. 

“What I’d like to emphasize is that the solution is not to take the bias out of people – that doesn’t work,” said Beasley. “Instead, what we want to work on is minimizing the impact of bias in searches, and it will work with organizations thereafter.”

The study came up with several recommendations to increase diversity in leadership hiring:
  • Mandate diverse slates of candidates.
  • Minimize bias in the hiring process by using a diverse search committee and diverse interviewers, and by structuring the interview process as much as possible.
  • Assess diversity on an ongoing basis throughout the process and share the information with others. 
“The nonprofit sector is the third largest workforce in the world, after retail and manufacturing,” said Patricia Hampton, vice president and managing partner of Washington, D.C.-based Nonprofit HR. “But, unfortunately, we [people of color in NGOs and foundations] often have the quietest voice.”

‘We Shall Not Be Moved’ March Aims to Send Trump Message on MLK Weekend By Hazel Trice Edney

Dec. 19, 2016

‘We Shall Not Be Moved’ March Aims to Send Trump Message on MLK Weekend
By Hazel Trice Edney

alsharpton-nanmarchlogo

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – The march announced by the Rev. Al Sharpton shortly after Donald Trump was elected president is now taking shape for January 14 and will aim to send a clear message to the President-elect in the “spirit and tradition of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., said a statement from Sharpton this week.

“The 2017 march will bring all people together to insist on change and accountability,” said Sharpton. “Martin Luther King Jr.’s struggle for civil rights didn’t end with his death, it’s a fight we take on each day. The political players may change but our goals stay the same. Donald Trump and his administration need to hear our voice and our concerns.”

He continues, “Participants will demand accountability not just from President-elect Trump but from Senate and Congress members who are charged with overseeing the Criminal Justice Reform Act, the Voting Rights Bill, Supreme Court nominations and other Trump political appointments. Our movement, #WeShallNotBeMoved, will send a clear message to those in power that the fight for equal rights and justice for all continues,” he states.

The four top concerns outlined involve police reform, mass incarceration, stop and frisk, the Affordable Care Act, voting rights, education, and climate change.

Sharpton first announced the march on a mid-November teleconference during which he told reporters that he was not fazed by Trump’s apparent change of demeanor toward President Barack Obama. Despite his less vitriolic demeanor, Trump has since surrounded himself with an almost lily White cabinet and advisors, including Steve Bannon, a founder of Breitbart news, the voice of the so-called “alt-right” - White supremacists and racists.

“Whether one whispers or whether one shouts, if the message is the same what does it matter?” Sharpton told reporters on that call. “I think we are mistaking his change in tone with change in content.”

That said, Sharpton has organized a march and rally that will include civil rights groups, activists, unions and clergy outside the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in D.C. The following is the detailed route, according to NationalActionNetwork.net:

WHEN: Sat., Jan. 14

ASSEMBLY: Marchers will assemble at 9 a.m. at the National Sylvan Theater, Independence Avenue Southwest & 15th Street NW.

MARCH STARTING TIME: 11 a.m.

MARCH ROUTE: March will travel along Independence Ave. SW to West Potomac Park at 1964 Independence Ave. SW

RALLY: 12 Noon in West Potomac Park, directly across from Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

MORE INFORMATION: NationActionNetwork.net

Sharpton said the march will include “Americans from every state, race, religion and ethnicity,” who will “warn President Trump and Congress that the fight for criminal justice, voting rights, affordable health care, improvements in education and other issues around equality and justice continues.”

Dylann Roof Is Guilty By Frederick H. Lowe

December 18, 2016

Dylann Roof Is Guilty  
By Frederick H. Lowe

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Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from TheNorthStarNewsToday.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - A federal grand jury on Thursday convicted Dylann Roof of murdering nine Black churchgoers last year who were attending a Bible study at the historic Emanuel A.M. E. Church in downtown Charleston, S.C.

The 12-member jury deliberated two hours before finding Roof, 22, guilty on all counts although he had admitted to the murders. He faces either life in prison or execution.

Federal prosecutors charged Roof with the Hate Crimes Act Resulting in Death, the Hate Crimes Act Involving an Attempt to Kill, Obstruction of Exercise of Religion Resulting in Death, Obstruction of Exercise of Religion Involving an Attempt to Kill and Use of a Dangerous Weapon and Use of a Firearm to Commit Murder During and in Relation to a Crime of Violence, according to the 15-page indictment. Roof pled not guilty.

In addition, he faces state murder charges bought by South Carolina, which is also seeking the death penalty. That trial is scheduled to begin in January.

Roof sat for an hour with Emanuel parishioners on June 17, 2015, before firing his gun, a Glock .45-caliber pistol.

Roof, 22, said he killed the churchgoers to incite a race war. The pistol was loaded with eight magazines of hollow-point bullets.

Emmett Till Bill Reauthorized By Frederick Lowe

Dec. 19, 2016

Emmett Till Bill Reauthorized
Will it spur more of an effort to solve civil rights murders than the original legislation?
By Frederick Lowe

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Emmett Till 

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - President Barack Obama has signed legislation permanently reauthorizing a law that expands prosecution of civil rights-era murders after an earlier version of the law failed miserably to live up to expectations.

The President, Dec. 16, signed the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Bill of 2007, which expands the authority of the Department of Justice and FBI to investigate and prosecute race-based murders.

The legislation is named in honor of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Chicago boy who was kidnapped and murdered on Aug. 28, 1955,  in Money, Miss., by Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam for allegedly whistling at Carolyn Bryant, a White woman.

The teenager’s beaten and horribly mutilated body, tied to a heavy industrial fan, floated to the surface of the Tallahatchie River, where it was discovered by two boys swimming in the river.

An all-White male jury found Milam and Bryant not guilty, but the two admitted killing Till in a Jan. 24, 1956 interview with Look magazine for which they were paid. Bryant operated a store and it went out business after blacks launched a boycott.

The current Emmett Till legislation was scheduled to expire on Sept. 30, 2017, the end of the government’s fiscal year.  The legislation was passed in 2008, after being introduced by Congressman John Lewis, a veteran of the civil rights movement. Lewis’ bill limited investigations to violations that occurred before 1970.

The original legislation failed to live up to its promise, according to a U. S. Senate review of the law. There has been only one successful prosecution as result of the bill. The Senate also noted other challenges such as the Fifth Amendment protection against double jeopardy and a pre-1994 five year statute of limitations on federal criminal civil rights charges.

“Ultimately, a DOJ report stated that it is unlikely that any of the remaining cases would be prosecuted,” the Senate reported.

The Cold Case Justice Initiative of the DOJ last year closed 115 of the 126 cases on their list, often without pursuing potential witnesses or victims’ family members, the Senate said.

Last year, civil right activists testified before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, that the DOJ and the FBI have not done enough to solve the murders of civil rights workers in the 1940s, 50s and 60s despite the Emmett Till legislation.

The murders of black men, women and children have been extensive and almost no perpetrators have been brought to justice.

The Equal Justice Initiatve, which is based in Montgomery, Ala., reported that nearly 4,000 black men, black women and black children were lynched between 1877 and 1950.

Many lynching were extrajudicial but others were either organized or encouraged by law enforcement officials.

Congress passed the expanded Emmett Till legislation on Dec. 13th. The legislation was introduced into the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate bill, S. 2854, and House bill, H. R. 5067, require the Department of Justice to reopen and review cases closed without an in-person investigation conducted by the DOJ or the FBI. The DOJ also must establish a task force to conduct a thorough investigation of Emmett Till Act Cases.

“Perhaps most significantly to us is that the FBI will be required to travel to the communities to do their investigative work, not simply read over old files from a desk in Washington and make a couple phone calls,” said Janis McDonald, co-director of the Cold Case Justice Initiative, which is based at Syracuse University.

The DOJ must indicate the number of cases referred by a civil rights organization, an institution of higher education or a state or local law enforcement agency.  The bill also requires the DOJ to report the number of cases that resulted in federal charges, the date charges were filed and whether DOJ declined to prosecute or participate in an investigation of a referred case and any activity on reopened cases.

In addition, the law enforcement agencies must coordinate information sharing, hold accountable perpetrators or accomplices in unsolved civil rights murders and comply with Freedom Information Act requests.

The legislation also allows DOJ to award grants to civil rights organizations, institutions of higher education and other eligible entities for expenses associated with investigating murders under the Emmett Till Act.

Mothers of Police Brutality Victims Urge NFL to ‘Step Up’ By Hazel Trice Edney

Dec. 19, 2016

Mothers of Police Brutality Victims Urge NFL to ‘Step Up’
By Hazel Trice Edney

allen clinton
Unarmed Clinton Allen was shot seven times by a Dallas police officer three years ago. His mother, Collette Flanagan
is now asking the NFL to help end the scourge of police brutality and shootings of unarmed Blacks by police.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - On any given Sunday afternoon, millions of Black men and women gather around their TVs, cheering on their favorite football teams. Then, when they leave their friends’ houses after the game, they must proceed with extreme caution as African-Americans - in comparison to Whites - are twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police, according to the Center for American Progress.

These stops – whether because of racial profiling or legitimate reasons - have too often ended in police brutality – even deaths of unarmed Black people. This is the reason that a group of mothers has now turned to the National Football League, which makes millions of dollars a year with Black support, to get involved with a goal of ending what often appears to be a relentless attack on Blacks by police.

“We are writing to request a meeting with you to discuss the ongoing national disgrace of unaccountable police shootings. We ask this because of our knowledge about the issue and because we have been approached by NFL players who would like to see the League more involved with projects that promote healing of our communities,” wrote Collette Flanagan, founder of Mothers Against Police Brutality in a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “Mothers Against Police Brutality believes that the NFL could become a very effective voice in addressing this crisis, which involves thousands of families each year. We commend the NFL for its work on domestic violence, and we urge you to bring the same morale outrage to the unjust use of deadly force by police, which so closely impacts your players personally and the communities in which so many of them grew up. Now is the time for the NFL to step up.”

The letter goes on to ask Goodell to create a task force that would serve to help promote community healing and unity around the issue which has exploded nationally and internationally in recent years with the growth of social media organizing and viral cell phone videos showing actual brutality and police shootings.

The letter asks for a meeting to “discuss our work to end the national crisis of police deadly force, which claimed more than 1,000 lives last year, and to save lives, particularly the lives of young black and Latino men.”

It also asks Goodell to help “arrange meetings with players and owners; and urge the NFL to form a high level task force that will address police shootings, police use of excessive force, and innovative ways that policing can protect and serve the people of every community in America.”

Mothers Against Police Brutality, a national organization based in Dallas, was founded to end the “killing of unarmed and mentally ill persons by law enforcement agencies; to change the deadly force policies and practices in the City of Dallas and nationally to support families who have lost loved ones to police violence; and to help restore trust between the police and the communities they are sworn to serve and protect,” according to a statement from the organization.

Flanagan founded MAPB after her 25-year-old unarmed son, Clinton Allen, was shot seven times by a Dallas police officer in 2013. A grand jury refused to indict the officer, Clark Staller, in the killing after he and authorities claimed the unarmed Allen was assaulting him in the March 10, 2013 incident. Allen’s parents have contended that the shooting was not necessary and that he was not given immediate medical help even as he struggled to stay alive.

Flanagan’s letter sought to sensitize Goodell to the NFL’s responsibility to those who are among their primary supporters - Black men and women - as well as members of the NFL.

“The mothers in our organization – and, indeed, most African American mothers – fear for their son’s life whenever he encounters a police officer, including mothers of NFL players. An African American NFL player, when off the field, can be just as vulnerable to police violence as any other young black man in this country,” she wrote. “Players such as Colin Kaepernick, Anquan Boldin, Josh McCown, and others have taken on a vital role in the movement for justice in policing, and they should be encouraged to speak out.”

In the letter, Flanagan also commended the NFL for its efforts to stem domestic violence – a move that was largely the result of prodding from a different organization, the Black Women’s Roundtable, led by Melanie Campbell.

Flanagan urged Goodell “to bring the same moral outrage to the unjust use of deadly force by police, which so closely impacts your players personally and the communities in which so many of them grew up. Now is the time for the NFL to step up."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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