It is Getting Cold in the Desert

Greetings. It’s been a few days since I have been able to post on the daily diversity download, so let’s get right to it. As I sit here and gaze out the window at the fine mist of snow currently falling to the ground in Michigan, I can’t help but thinking of those that are enjoying warmer days elsewhere in this great country of ours. My thoughts should go to sunny California, beautiful Hawaii or the beaches of Miami, Florida. But, as a passionate Diversity Professional, my thoughts have seemed to naturally land on the state of Arizona. I shake my head.

What the heck is up in Arizona? As many of you recall, just a few months ago the state’s Governor Jan Brewer pushed, supported and passed legislation that essentially legalized the racial profiling of Hispanic Americans. While the legislation’s wording essentially says that it targets illegal and undocumented residents, I am doubtful that Canadians, Irish or certain Europeans will have little to worry about if their documents are not in order. Since the queues to initially provoke such an investigation are likely based on appearance, it is easy to assume that Hispanics will be most impacted. And let’s be honest, this is the group that is perceived to be the “problem” and therefore the legislation was passed for in the first place. I shake my head again.

It gets worse. On Tuesday November 2nd, the voters of the state of Arizona passed a law banning Affirmative Action, which basically prohibits consideration of race, ethnicity or gender by units of state government, including public colleges and universities for employment, procurement contracts and college admission.  For the record, Latinos making up 29 percent of Arizona’s population and if current population trends continue, Arizona will become a majority-minority state by 2015. To add to this, Arizona is home to 21 federally recognized Native American tribes whose reservations and tribal communities comprise over a quarter of Arizona's lands. Now, one could assume that Affirmative Action may not even be needed in Arizona. After all, Affirmative Action programs were designed to eliminate disparities amongst genders and races in areas like employment and higher education. If the majority of the job and college applicants are people of color (namely Latinos or Native Americans), then the disparities should correct themselves, right? Wrong!
The benefits that Affirmative Action has and would continue to bring to Arizona go beyond the numbers. For starters, Arizona's universities -- like most institutions -- have many programs for minority students, some of which could be in trouble if not allowed to “recruit” students for these programs. For example, Arizona State University announced new summer fellowships in digital media for minority students in August as a means to get more diversity in this profession and academic discipline. This is money desperately needed by the students in order to be able to afford ASU’s tuition. What happens now? Desperate to prevent what ultimately happened on Tuesday, the University of Arizona posted this video on the potential impacts of banning Affirmative Action in Arizona.  In the video, Jeff Milem, associate dean of the College of Education makes the following statement:  "the most profound impact would be on graduate and professional education, where many programs do consider race or gender in admissions decisions.” He also said that in fields where there are clear disparities -- such as engineering, which has a large gender gap -- many professors believe they should make extra efforts to diversify their classes. Makes perfect sense to me.

On the employment and State contracting front, the ban on Affirmative Action will have economic development impacts felt by the entire state. While the state’s unemployment rate is just below the national average at about 10%, the figure is much higher when discouraged workers are included in the count. That brings the broader unemployment rate to nearly 1 in 5 workers, most of whom are people of color. Additionally, when you factor in the compensation disparities, you will notice that those that are employed and on the higher ends of the compensation scales are also those that are soon to be in the state’s minority. So, who is going to buy goods and services sold in Arizona to help the state economy progress? Banning Affirmative Action adds to the problem because it essentially means that people of color and women can continue to be disenfranchised in Arizona because of a lack of simple intervention by the State’s government to help level the playing field. The same goes true for Minority & Woman owned businesses. It is no secret that small businesses make the economy move. They are more nimble than large businesses, able to hire more people faster and often more loyal to the local economy & communities. Moreover, small minority and woman owned businesses tend to locate and higher from communities that need economic development the most, and therefore rely on Supplier Diversity programs to help open the doors of opportunity. When these state programs go away, then typically the opportunities (and businesses) do as well.

Simply put, Arizona appears to be on their way to becoming “anti-diversity & inclusion”. I can’t imagine what’s next. Just so you know, I think Arizona is an absolutely beautiful state. My mother and step-father reside there, and have enjoyed visiting as often as possible. My wife and I even contemplated relocating there at some point. Not now thought. Not until I see some tangible steps to make Arizona “warm” again for people of color and women. It’s getting cold in the desert. If you go, dress warm.

Thanks. As always, I welcome your comments and reactions. Tune in again for the next Daily Diversity Download.