Faith in Action Council explores racial inequality in state government jobs

Alicia Clark, founder and organizer of the Delaware Faith In Action Council, presented a program about Structural Inequality in the Delaware State Government Oct. 11 to an audience of over 100 people at the Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice monthly meeting. Clark reported the results of a study she conducted on systemic discrimination and racism in state government in collaboration with the Interdenominational Ministers Action Council and the NAACP.

The study covered minorities including African-Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics and women. She shared a definition of structural inequality as a condition where one category of people is attributed an unequal status in relation to other categories of people. This relationship is perpetuated and reinforced by a confluence of unequal relations in roles, functions, decisions, rights and opportunities.

The council started the process of examining racial discrimination issues in Delaware because, for decades, state employees, primarily black, have been reaching out to clergy and NAACP members for help. Black and Latino state employees were following the proper channels to report incidents of racism and discrimination in the workplace; however, when they did, they did not receive due process. Often their complaints were not properly investigated, or the resolution favored management most of the time. The stories were unsettling.

One statistic that raised a red flag immediately was the report from Delaware's Department of Labor Office of Anti-Discrimination. From 2012 to 2015, 190 complaints were filed against state agencies, and the Office of Anti-Discrimination only had one cause finding, which means they determined only one case out of 190 had merit. The outcome of the other 189 complaints is unknown because the information is protected.

As the research and review ensued, the study group quickly began to realize the complaints and cases were not isolated to one department or geographic area of Delaware but throughout the entire state. The most egregious accounts of racism and discrimination were in Kent and Sussex counties.

The study group also gathered testimonials from state employees alleging management consistently violated policies and the civil rights of employees, and the reporting systems and organizational structures within state agencies facilitated and perpetuated inequality. The study revealed that human resources management practices lack uniformity across the 13 executive branches in state government.

The results of the study demonstrate how justice can be denied to state employees through various systems and processes. It concluded that this is a crisis, and it will not be fixed with diversity and inclusion plans, affirmative action executive orders or a human resource management assessment. It will take political will, financial resources, human capital, subject matter experts and a comprehensive statewide strategy. The state government is the largest employer in Delaware. 

In 2009, Gov. Jack Markell signed an executive order (No. 8) that directed his agencies to pursue "the recruitment and promotion of qualified applicants from diverse backgrounds." During his tenure, racial diversity in state government has declined. The percentage of black and Latino managerial positions decreased from 2009-14, and the percentage of white managers increased. Some 29 percent of state employees are African-American and 65 percent are white, but whites make up 75 percent of the officials and administrators in state government, as reported by the Department of Labor. 

Markell recently announced the state has awarded a contract to the Ivy Planning Group to conduct a human resource management assessment. An independent review of human resource management in state agencies was one of the council's seven recommendations. The council's actions and other recommendations are as follows:

• Launch a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into state government employment practices and patterns. The council asked U.S. Attorney General Charles Oberly to assist with engaging the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Council members believe a U.S. Department of Justice investigation will bring justice to employees.
• Provide prompt remedial action for state employees filing retaliation complaints.
• Create a task force by January 2017 to continue the work of implementing recommendations, and provide support to the Office of Management and Budget, which is managing the assessment process.
• Create a uniform anti-discrimination policy.
• Review and revise Delaware's Title 19 Labor and Employment Practices statute, which hasn't been updated since the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• Create an independent Delaware Commission on Civil Rights with sovereign immunity that would be responsible for monitoring employment, housing, public accommodations, education and state contracts for all Delaware citizens.

Here's what citizens can do:

• Write letters to newspaper editors and post to blogs.
• Write to legislators and call for a special session or hearing on discrimination in state government.
• Write to federal and state officials and ask them to support Delaware Faith In Action's petition for a U.S. DOJ investigation into employment patterns and practices in state government and ask them what are they doing about this crisis.
• Spread the word about injustices in Delaware and the need for state employees to be made whole.
• Join and support Delaware Faith In Action. For more information, go to www.defaithinaction.org.

Alicia Clark is the founder and principal consultant of Social Solutions LLC, a Delaware minority and women-owned firm. To contact her, email aliciaclark1@msn.com.

Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice is a nonpartisan secular organization that educates, informs and advocates for racial justice, equality and fair opportunity. For more information, and details about the Oct. 11 program, go to www.sdarj.org.