No One On The Hiring Panel Looked Like Me!

As the applicant entered the conference room for the job interview, she laid her eyes on the interview panel. She quickly noticed that no one on the panel was a person of color. They looked at her with hypocritical, welcoming smiles since her name may not have alerted them that she is Black. She wondered why in an environment where a high percentage of their catered population is Black, the interview team could not find at least one Black person among their colleagues to include on the panel?  The job interview panel included two women, but this inclusion did not erase the thought from the applicant's mind that her chances were slim to nothing in a room where there was no person of color. She has certainly considered that she may not have been the best candidate for the job, but the following questions keep overshadowing that thought: (i) what are the chances that a Black person will get this job even if he/she is the most qualified candidate, (ii) are the interviewers comfortable interviewing candidates that are not their race (iii) will human nature prevail causing the interviewers to decide not to hire any person of color who they feel will not fit into their professional and personal clique? People of color face a challenge when they apply for jobs at organizations where there is no representation of their race on the interview panel. Job candidates can only hope that human nature will not overshadow integrity so that interviewers will have an open mind and embrace diversity.

Police Cruelty to Disabled Resident

In light of the recent police issues, although this incident occurred since last August, it is one that needs to be brought back into the limelight.   It is surprising that the investigations on this case are still pending since the matter clearly demonstrates unconscionable cruelty of certain Miami-Dade County police officers towards a disabled resident. Those officers were part of a police task force that went on one of their many harassment raids of a Black community. On this assignment, they arrested three Black men on suspicion of smoking marijuana. Two of the men were released after they signed tickets to appear in court. The third man, Tannie Burke, who more than likely could not sign the ticket was not so lucky. He was handcuffed and lead to an unmarked car where he had difficulty walking towards the car. The difficulty was because he has been blind since birth. The crowd's plea for this man to be released made it quite clear to the police officers that the 21 year old young man has a visual impairment. Yet, having no conscience, this did not prevent the officers from placing the man in the back of their car.  But, what occurred later was not only bizarre but cruel. Burke told the officers that he was blind, yet they drove him around for approximately 20 minutes, then put him out of the car in a desolate area. Now, anyone familiar with the Goulds area of Miami-Dade county will know that there are not only bushy areas with no street lights and no residences in sight for miles, but Goulds is not far away from the alligator swamps. Burke, says he makes his way around the community during the daylight but is afraid to do so during the night. So, it cannot be imagined how scared he must have been. However, he kept walking until it seemed to him that he came to a road. Unsure of where he was or was going, Burke said he kept his right foot on the road and his left foot in the weeds to prevent himself from wandering into the middle of the dark road where he could get hit by a car. Eventually, the road lead to a lighted area where he was helped by a stranger.  Burke assumed from the cops' conversation in the car that they wanted to pay back his step father who was videotaping them. This is such a sad story of man's inhumane treatment to another with a disability. It also indicates that having a disability will not even prevent Black men from experiencing police harassment.

Toddlers Behaving Badly In Public

Toddlers/pre-schoolers are always so cute or some may say adorable! However, that cuteness quickly goes away when these youngsters begin to behave badly in public. The antics of Stephan Curry's daughter or the kid seen in the picture above who threw the temper tantrum at the White House that left President Obama speechless are just two examples of children out-of-control. But, these kids cannot be blamed as they are simply acting how they behave at home. If parents do not teach their children how to behave at home, then naturally, when the children go out they will not know how to act properly. The child's out-of-control behavior in public not only creates an uncomfortable environment for others, but the bad behavior may possibly be regarded by some as poor parental skills in the development of the child. Many people feel awkward in verbally expressing unhappiness with a child's bad behavior and just hope that the family will simply leave as soon as possible. In the meantime, until the family goes away, the public have to put up with a lack of control of kids at the movies, in restaurants, in the airplane, at church, etc., etc., etc.  But,  if these kids are out-of-control at such a young age, one can only imagine how they will behave as they grow older.

Lean Back!

We can "lean in" all we want to and achieve leadership positions.  However, at the end of the day, there are higher powers that will interrupt the progress of life's achievements. Those experiences will cause us to pause and "lean back".
~ J.Y. Campbell

Bank Fraud Against Customers

The City of Los Angeles recently filed a civil law suit against Wells Fargo Bank due to their practices of opening unwanted accounts that have created bank fees and subsequently hardships on customers. Although this story was mentioned in the news recently, such immoral practices are common not only at Wells Fargo Bank but other major banks for a number of years. The banks’ goals are no longer customer service oriented but rather to open as many revenue generating accounts. This dishonest practice have resulted in employees at banking centers and online competing in a high pressure environment to open as many accounts as possible. For online banking, prizes may be offered to the employee with the most account openings each month. But, employees online and at the banking centers are more eager to receive the bonus payments based on the number of new accounts that they open each month. Further, the more complex the account, such as loans or annuities or lines of credit, the more bonus an employee may receive on their paycheck. So, employees work in an environment that may cause some to engage in illegal practices of opening accounts without considering that this may be detrimental to a customer especially those who are elderly and living on fixed income.  Such practices indicates that customers must beware and take the time to review their monthly statement. But, even as important, customers must always count their money prior to leaving the bank. Although the bank has a machine that should count and identify fake bills, sometimes such bills are not weeded out of the pack. In those cases, the customer may end up getting fake bills from their own bank. But, once the customer realizes the problem, he/she is out of luck since the bank will refuse to take back the bill. Instead, the bank will place the blame on the customer for not realizing the problem while at the bank! Further, they will accuse the customer of obtaining the fake bill elsewhere. Beware of the banks!!