After all is said and done, usually, more is said than done.
— Lou Holtz
Over the past couple of years, the issue of race has been a very hot and volatile topic in the media, at the water coolers at work, and in social gatherings where two or more people gather for polite and stimulating conversation. It’s just too bad that it took such tragic circumstances to bring the topic of race out of the closet and back into the mainstream dialogue.
Pundits from right, left and center have staked out their familiar positions. Social media trolls are having a field day. In fact, I cringe when reading, occasionally, some of the vitriol spewed in the comment sections of blogs, newspaper editorials and social media outlets.
Silly me, I thought we had come a lot further on the race issue. Yet clearly we have not advanced very far on this seemingly intractable issue. Generalizations and stereotypes rule the day. Too many blacks refuse to concede that there has been any progress and more than a fair number of whites are still in denial about the stubborn presence of racism in any form. It seems like we’re glaring, point blank, at each other and no one is blinking.
Well, let me be the first to blink.
First, let me say that the issue of race has consumed us too long. Talking about race doesn’t solve the insidious impact of racial hatred. Pointing fingers does not advance us to a higher ground. Most importantly, it is sad to watch and hear people shouting at and over each other — without offering any solutions.
Now is the time for solutions.
The overarching question is what are we, as Americans, going to do about our “peculiar problem” and when are we going to do it? The race topic, like most social issues in America, has a shelf life. Americans get bored with topics that make them uncomfortable and are soon looking for the next big divisive topic. However, the problem with consigning race, women’s and gay rights along with religious intolerance to the “been there, done that and got the T-shirt” historical archives is that these issues remain with us — even if CNN chooses not to discuss or report on them.
When I joined corporate America over 30 years ago, there was a palpable excitement about valuing, promoting and managing diversity. A sizable amount of money and even more time was spent on workshops, seminars and retreats to bring about change in corporate cultures. For many, these events were cathartic. The diversity movement, at least, gave the marginalized a language and some terms to explain their plight. So-called minorities could vent their frustration with organizational and institutional racism; women could talk about the impenetrable “glass ceiling” and gays? — well, back then gays were still, mostly, in the closet and not part of the diversity equation.
Still, after three decades of bumping our gums about diversity, we are still, with some visible exceptions, just talking. For example, according to research, only 1.2 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are black; 1.4 percent are Latino; 1.2 percent are Asian. By the way, women, who make up over 50 percent of the population, represent 4.8 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs. I will let the reader draw their own conclusion about what these percentages say about progress.
Here’s what I know, “well done is better than well said.” I am looking to join with a few good people who are committed to finding solutions. I am tired of going over the same ground year after year and decade after decade.