One of the most enduring and justified criticism of racial preference is that it amounts to a racial spoils system, with different races and ethnic groups in a constant struggle among themselves for the rewards of racial recognition. Now that Hispanics are both the largest and fastest growing minority group in the country, their tensions with blacks are certain to increase, a prediction that is more than confirmed by an article in today’s Washington Post, “More Federal Hiring of Hispanics Urged: Advocacy Groups Seek Accelerated Recruiting Effort.”
The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Hispanic Federal Executives called the issue a “crisis.” They pointed to a recent government report indicating that 7 percent of federal civilian employees are Hispanic, compared with 13 percent of the entire civilian workforce.
….
The report, issued earlier this year by the Office of Personnel Management, found that Hispanics are the only minority group underrepresented in the federal government. African Americans, for example, make up about 10.4 percent of the civilian workforce but more than 17 percent of the government’s civilian employment rolls, the report says.
The Hispanic organizations “demanded that the government hire 100,000 Hispanics — the nation’s largest minority group — over the next five years” to end their underrepresentation.
In short, because Hispanics are substantially “underrepresented” in the federal work force and blacks are substantially “overrepresented,” Hispanic organizations are demanding that the government commit to hiring 100,000 Hispanics over five years. This, of course, would require job applicants to be hired because they were Hispanic, and other applicants to be rejected because they are not.
What, I wonder, would “civil rights” organizations say if large numbers of black job applicants were not hired simply because they are black? Discriminating minds want to know.
A final point: the most dramatic point in the article is a claim that does not appear. The Hispanic organizations make no claim whatsoever of discrimination. That is, they do not claim that qualified applicants have been turned away because they are Hispanic. They do not demand that federal employers stop discriminating.
On the contrary, they demand that they start.
UPDATE [5/12/04 9:20AM]
Latino Pundit, linking to this post, asks “Are Hispanics telling the government not to hire other races to make room for Hispanics in order to properly represent Hispanics in society?” And the answer?
No. Hispanics are only saying they want their fair share in office. How the government wants to go about that is up to them.
Excuse me, but this is wishful thinking. If blacks are seriously “overrepresented” among federal employees and Hispanics are seriously “underrepresented,” AND if you then “demand” that the federal government hire 100,000 Hispanics over the next five years to correct this imbalance, you are inevitably demanding that the government hire (qualified, of course) applicants because they are Hispanic and NOT hire other qualified applicants because they are black … or white or Asian or whatever.
The problem here, as elsewhere, is the abandonment of the principle of “fair,” which requires that people neither be included nor excluded because of their race or ethnicity, in favor of the currently fashionable “fair share,” which requires something approaching proportional representation.
I wonder if someday whites like me will be the underrepresented minority. Will there be such fuss made over them?
Hire More Hispanics
Now that Hispanics are the largest minority group in the U.S., it is only natural that they want a balanced…
maybe part of the overrepresentation is that the government started a program to hire blacks and when those blacks reached middle management, they just keep on hiring blacks instead of the best candidates.
How many times has someone of any race gone into a post office, Social Security Office, etc and seen nothing but black faces? It is probably due to a black manager in charge of the hiring.
I’ve noticed that women are vastly overrepresented among elementary school teachers and day care workers. We must hire to right the balance!
Employee demographics that differ highly from the overall population may not be due to unfair or illegal discrimination, or even a concentration of skills in one group over another — sometimes, it’s entirely due to interest in a type of job. I would bet that more women are interested in working with small children than are men, no matter the skill level of the people involved. As well, culturally, some professions are more attractive to certain groups than others.
At my job, we’ve got a lot of Jewish employees and quite a few Asians as well — but it’s not discrimination. This is the actuarial department: the actuarial profession at my level is exam-based — you do well on these math-based exams, you get ahead. It takes people interested in self-study on math, stats, insurance, and investments – this is a group of people that will not look like the population as a whole. Nor should we be – the important thing is for us to get our calculations correct.
Meep – I think you’re absolutely right that there might well be — indeed, probably are — explanations for the “underrepresentation” that have nothing to do with discrimination. The problem is, people whose standard of fairness is “fair share” instead of fair treatment of individuals aren’t complaining about discrimination, except insofar as they are complaining about an absence of discrimination in favor of their preferred group.
Latinopundit – Your point — let’s find out why there aren’t more Hispanic federal employees — would be persuasive IF the Hispanic organizations were not calling for the hiring of 100,000 Hispanics to correct the “underrepresentation.” My impression is that the cause of the underrepresentation doesn’t matter to them. They just want their “fair [proportional] share.”
Why does it seem that proponents of proportional representation never realize that, by definition, it limits any group to their proportion and, if followed to the letter, would result in individuals being denied their choice of interest (work, college, contracts, etc) because their quota was filled?
John, I am a firm believer in the notion that language can shape thinking. The words we choose to use to describe a situation affect the way we think about that situation.
As such, I’m on a campaign against the use of the terms “underrepresented” and “overrepresented” in these sorts of discussions. I recognize that you regularly put them in quotes, and I also realize that it’s difficult to find another word that is short and gets the concept across. Nevertheless, I think it a mistake to use the term.
A Hispanic federal employee — unless his job is “Member of Congress” — does not “represent” anyone. Not other hispanics, not anybody else. He is simply an employee. Hispanics are not “underrepresented” because they’re not represented. Blacks are not “overrepresented” because they’re not represented.
It’s a pet peeve of mine.
I think the term comes from the statistical concept of a representative sample.
I just kind of stumbled into this website and boy what a bunch of bunk! First, regardless of your credentials “John” you and Latinopundit seem to have a mutual admiration club going on here.
The only question I have is this: If you were to substitute all your comments about Hispanics and replace it with the word “Black” or “African American” then go back 30-40 years would you still pose the same arguments?
No difference, guys. The struggle is the same–CIVIL RIGHTS!!
I’ve been written up and recently suspended because my employer re-hired a hispanic who I believe is associated with gangs or gang activity. Because I said this in front of several co-workers on our job, In am called “prejudice”. I brought up the fact that we only have 3 whites and one black, our new boss. I said, why can’t we have more blacks or whites, and for them to quite hiring “friends” who are Filapeno or Hispanic. Can’t my employer be charged with hiring dis-crimination, because I feel like an outcast, being one of only 3 white people in our department? Can I file discrimination charges because I’m on a 3 day suspension, which might be followed by my termination? They say I can’t say someone is a gang banger, or knows people who areor were. I feel threatened, not by this re-hire, but by the fact that Iknow he knows gang bangers. Don’t I have rights to feel “threatened?”
I think that the criminal justice system does does discriminate agianst African Americans because if you look at it closely “blacks” do get treated a whole lot different than whites do. Exspecially if you are dealing with the law or something close to that.
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I don’t believe that blacks are treated better than whites or hispanics. I live in a southern town where blacks go to college and finish and still have to work at places such as fast food jobs. A white person and a hispanic person can go in for a job and get it without finishing school but, it’s hard for a black person to get a job no matter how skilled and qualified they are. And most of the people I see trying to get a check from the government are white people but, I guess we always fail to mention that. And the kids today that are makeing meth,selling their bodies, and killing people just to do it are whites. So everyone needs to stop saying blacks have it so easy because the first time a black person does something wrong they go to jail and everyones happy but, if a white person does the same thing everyone feels sorry and wants to blame it on stress or what ever stupid reason they can find. You never have and never will see a black president but, the people need someone with a C average to run the nation and why is that? Because he is white. So I say to all the people that want something to complain about, find something else besize blacks taking over to talk about. Blacks try just as hard as any other race to make it in this big so called melting pot. If blacks were’nt around who would their be to blame for all the mess-ups here???
Over and Under representation are fine terms. What they indicate depends on the context. In the media, blacks are making a huge surge, and it allows them disseminate their ignorant culture in all directions and across all lines.
In the case of gov’t positions, when one allots a disproportionate number of jobs to a certain group, you must exclude some other proportion of people from other groups because there are a finite number of available positions.
I live in Los Angeles. I’m white, and this has got to be one of the most Hispanic areas in the US next to maybe some places in TX. However, state positions as the DMV, courthouse etc, are dominated by blacks. If they took from the general pool of people, they should be mostly Hispanic, not black. But you don’t squeak loud enough. Hispanics do still melt into the walls–although not to same degree that Asians do.
Hispanics are like Asians in the sense that they don’t scream very loud. You’ll need to scream to get things done. Sharpton/Jackson et al, have protested their way into jobs. It’s not guilt that drives whites to give up their wallets, it’s fear, both economic and physical.
They threaten to boycott anyone who doesn’t hire them. Think of the black community as a huge, violent Union. In order to allocate all of these positions, especially in the media where their ignorant, uneducated culture can spread fastest, employers + the gov’t must hire more or there will be riots and protests and accusations of racism.
A lot changed after the 1993 LA riots. I wouldn’t recommend Hispanics riot because I’m white and I don’t feel like getting dragged out of my car and beaten like a hog, but it is simply up to Hispanics to assert themselves. Beating white people on the streets and bashing their heads in appears to be very effective, especially when you couple it with economic sanctions to anyone who doesn’t hire an arbitary number of people from the group you’re representing.
In fact, you can even burn down the entire town you live in, beat all the white people you can find, and whites will still accept that the entire thing was their fault. It’s not a bad deal.