Blacks Excluded From Most Top Jobs
Bloomberg's Invisible Men

By BRANDON L. WARD

"President Bush deserves credit for making it easier for minorities and women to reach the heights of public service in the U.S.," writes Bob Herbert of the New York Times. Mr. Herbert's observation comes to us courtesy of the Nov. 7, 2006 election results in which the Democrats regained control of both houses of Congress and achieved some historic firsts: a woman Speaker of the House and a black man as the Chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee.

Brandon L. Ward is president of the New York City Municipal Chapter of Blacks in Government, an employee advocacy group. He is a Mechanical Engineer with the Department of Transportation. He can be reached at brandonward@nycbig.com.

Interestingly enough, one of the few successes, in a bizarre kind-a-way, of the Bush Administration is the willingness to take a chance with black and brown individuals in senior decision-making positions. Proof of this is the President's appointment of individuals like Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and Alberto Gonzales to some of the highest posts in his administration.

Clustered Near Bottom

Generally, those of us who make up the Democratic Party's constituency (for example, organized labor, minorities, advocacy organizations and black voters) give it a pass on such issues as racial diversity, more so than Republicans. For instance, according to a recent fifth-year comparison of the Clinton and Bush (W) Administrations, racial minorities represented 24 percent and 13 percent of the administrations' appointees respectively. Curiously, however, according to NYU Professor of Government, Paul C. Light, even though the Clinton administration had more blacks than the Bush Administration, they were generally low-ranking appointments.

At the city level of government, the response of the Bloomberg administration to the dearth of blacks in senior and mission-critical positions of city agencies has been to treat us like a spare tire: you may not need them often, but when you do, you need them badly and fast. Meaning it wasn't until recently, following the police shooting and killing of Sean Bell, that a black was appointed as a Borough Commander in the Police Department. Certainly from this advocate's chair, diversity is not an imperative of the administration. Instead, it is an option that is generally embraced circumstantially.

In other words, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if this appointment was not a direct result of the public's protest of the shooting. Unfortunately, the progress of blacks in America is a result of crisis and definitely not without protest and struggle.

The accepted idea that Mayor Bloomberg's leadership orientation has moved away from that of his predecessor, Mayor Giuliani, is not without merit. Curiously enough, blacks perceive the Mayor as a virtual Democrat. After all, 47 percent of black city voters voted for Mike Bloomberg in his 2005 mayoral re-election compared to 25 percent who voted to re-elect Mayor Giuliani to his second term. Even so, four years (going on six) into his term, Mayor Mike expanded his cabinet by adding four new Deputy Mayors. All of them are from his inner circle. All of them are white.

Same Old Song

Indeed, records are meant to be broken, but I didn't know the ones related to staff would be broken so soon. After all, this profile is so Giuliani-administration. The meaning of this fact is disturbingly paradoxical. First, the Bloomberg administration is non-Giuliani Giuliani. Second, what's truly ironic is that while the faces and names have changed, the roles are the same. This is Buddhism in a nutshell.

Naturally, some of us with a healthy dislike for the exclusionary hiring and promotional practices of the Giuliani administration would nitpick at what we see as the sequel: the Bloomberg administration's unhealthy maintenance of a legacy of absence of blacks in the senior levels of city agencies. Interestingly, it seems to me that the Bloomberg administration has extrapolated its commitment to racial diversity with a commitment to gender diversity.

Certainly, even the three blind mice could see that while black men are conspicuously missing in the administration's leadership profile, women are not. Contrary to the popular notion that affirmative action rewards the "unqualified," the reality is, affirmative action acknowledges the historical and present institutional and social barriers (discrimination, racism, sexism, etc.) that have hindered qualified applicants from receiving fair and equal opportunities.

Education (and access to a quality education) being the primary factor in determining the qualifications of applicants for jobs, makes white women number one on the affirmative-action benefit list. How? Affirmative action became a legal and social reality at the same time the feminist movement began to hit its stride. Many women (predominantly white women) who had been housewives and stay-at-home mothers (many of them were also college-educated) began to redefine themselves and enter the work force to pursue careers. Also, the rising number of divorces compelled many white women to seek employment and continuing education.

More Scorn Than Gains

In effect, the same affirmative action programs that sought to rectify racial bias strove to remedy gender bias as well. Unfortunately, from where I am sitting, black men continue to feel the backlash of angry white men who seem to think that their failure is a result of affirmative action. No doubt, some women have become adept at learning these lessons of anti-black males in their hiring practices.

For my part, making head or tail of the Mayor's commitment to racial diversity in his administration requires an astute ability to interpret Bloomberg-speak. After all, in one breath, Mayor Bloomberg reportedly expressed concern regarding the lack of black males in senior levels of his administration and a desire to fill a top position at the Community Assistance Unit with a black male. However, in another breath and with typical political avarice, another white male, Patrick Brennan, got the job.

On the heels of the aforementioned historic firsts, much is being written about the 2008 presidential contest being the most diverse field in history, with Sen. Barack Obama vying to become the first African-American President and Sen. Hillary Clinton seeking to become the first female President of the United States. As exciting as this is, politically speaking, black voters are time and again being Rodney Dangerfield: we get no respect.