An editorial in The Oregonian recently criticized (shall I
say ridiculed) the $56,000 spent by the City of Portland so that 14 white male
administrators could attend a multi-day seminar at the Resort of The
Mountain. All expenses paid to include
golf I’m sure. What were these white
men, these primitives taught you might ask?
Besides improving their golf game that is? Well, the seminar was about diversity, with a
capital D; and to drive (the Nike Covert Tour 2.0 would be my choice – but I
digress) home the understanding that white men still don’t get it. What don’t we get? That we must treat everyone equally? Nope.
The answer is that we must give special consideration to some. Why?
Well, that’s a little subjective – although I’ve been to several of
these classes myself. However, that’s
why you get to play golf. The seminar
begins to make sense. It even makes a
little more sense if you can play golf with an African American, Asian
American, Hispanic American, or even a woman American; but they were excluded
from the club (I mean seminar). Presumably,
if you were a white gay male you could attend, as long as you didn’t make a
big issue of it – especially while putting.
OK, some will say that the Police Bureau’s white
administrators, the white Mayor (Charlie Hales) and the rest of those white boys, do need some ‘learnin.’ I would ask whether or not the Portland
Police Bureau has a conference room that they could use. And / or is it really necessary to hold the
conference where the green fees and associated golf necessities run in the
neighborhood of $80 to $100 per outing?
Post seminar, Chief Mike Reese wrote a memo to Police Bureau
members regarding the conference (apparently there was a lot of police rank-and-file interest
in the subject). The Chief's comments are as follows:
“Subject: White Men as Full Diversity Partners Caucus”
“I found the Caucus
thought-provoking, and there were many lessons that I learned about diversity
and the culture we live in. One of the
most important lessons was that there still exists pervasive and destructive
messages directed at women, people of color and other groups that create
barriers to success.” (Quoted from
Maxine Bernstein’s article in The Oregonian, 7-14-14.)
Yes, Chief, I’m glad you’re learning these things. In fact, I would have thought that someone at
your pay-grade would already know them.
And, incidentally, who was the very expensive consultant who taught you
these things? What is his or her
background? Or was this just more about
getting in touch with your feelings?
Post Script: Yes, I’m
having a little fun with this. I hope
the Chief and Mayor did learn something.
I don’t really care about the $56,000.
I don’t live in Portland, and don’t plan to ever live in Portland. Although, in many respects, it’s a nice city.
True Nelson
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