DiversityInc - October 2008

publishers’ letter

BY LUKE VISCONTI

Equity & This Election

A lthough most Americans share Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of people not being “judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” there remain vast disparities in wealth, education and healthcare linked directly to race and gender. These gaps are not closing fast enough to bring equity for all Americans by 2043, when white people will become the minority.

Equity is easily measurable—for example, equity in wages, wealth and access to resources. If people are created equally, then an equitable society would not have differences linked to things such as race and gender. A lack of equity means that our nation will suffer a decline as we become more diverse.

How do we ensure a good future for our country? How do we compete globally? How will we maintain—or improve—the quality of life we enjoy as others around the world catch up?

The answer is a renewed focus on our American values embodied in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. These documents are the foundation of the greatest and most successful experiment in codifying human and civil rights in known history—and because of it, the unprecedented generation of wealth, innovation and success.

In this issue of DiversityInc, we evaluate each presidential candidate’s proposals with the knowledge that equity in outcome bests serves the interests of ALL Americans. These are what I see as the critical issues:

The Economy: The subprime-mortgage crisis has disproportionately destroyed Black and Latino wealth and erased decades of progress. Black and Latino homeowners were more than twice as likely to be steered into inappropriate sub-prime mortgages as white people (given consistent credit scores). The current administration did not address this, yet consumer groups have been sounding the alarm for years.

Federal regulators failed to address the greed and avarice of mortgage companies and their banker and brokerage accomplices. This failure has caused the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Bankruptcy laws need to be reformed immediately, as current bankruptcy laws prevent a judge from modifying a mortgage payment unless you own multiple homes.

Our economy needs to be stimulated, but another “rebate” or “stimulus” check is not the answer. A commitment to rebuilding our infrastructure will provide both a stimulus and an enduring benefit.

Healthcare: Access to healthcare is a human right. Employers still provide most Americans with healthcare insurance; however, years of double-digit growth in the cost of health insurance has decreased the number offering that benefit. There are now 47. 5 million Americans with no health insurance—again, disproportionately Black and Latino.

There is no reason to expect
average workers to be able to self-
direct health insurance. This is why

tax credits to fund self-directed health insurance will not solve the problem.

War: We have asked much of our volunteer military—multiple deployments in a war longer than World War II. Returning service people need better healthcare, especially for mental health. The gaps in medical accountability between active duty and the reserves must be closed immediately. Veterans need education benefits, including a GI Bill, without restriction for time served, if the service member has honorably served in the war zone.

Our president failed us—he violated our values of the “ self-evident” truth that “all men” have unalienable rights. People we capture must be accorded the same treatment we would want for our fighters who are captured. Our Constitution compels us to set the example.

This publication will not endorse a candidate, but in this issue you will find an analysis of the candidates’ positions based on the principles we have learned from studying corporate America’s management of diversity. The above issues, in my opinion, illustrate the most prominent differences in values between the candidates. If we don’t directly and forthrightly address inequity—not exclusively by race but with the clear understanding that, in our country, they exist specifically by race—then we will not be addressing our responsibility in building the country we want.