Okay, so now New York State's most progressive administration under Mario Cuomo wants to line up workers by race, gender, sexual identity and whatever other class divisions involved in governmental bid work.
At a speech in upstate New York Cuomo outlined the sweeping changes to state law. He set goals for the hiring of minority and women owned business in the state. He is establishing what he calls workforce participation rates. Specific hiring of "black men", "Hispanic women", "Asian men", "LGBT persons" and oh yes "Caucasian women".
No where in this new scheme is there a requirement for hiring "Caucasian men."
Of course the Legislature would have to approve such a move and it is not clear how that will fair at this point.
Governor Cuomo went as far at indicating that his edict would apply to each and every trade, profession and occupation that fell under a state contract. If successful this would be the first time in history that a state mandated such quota's. Parsing words, Alphonso David, Chief Counsel to the governor's office claims the rates are not quotas or a quota system. "We're not saying to a contractor you must hire 10 women, We're saying it is a goal." "We are just asking for a good faith effort to achieve the goal."
Not reaching that "goal" does have severe consequences including disqualification and being cited for non-compliance. The state will be arbiter of whether or not contractors did make a good faith effort. So much for it is just a "goal.'
On their own diversity and equality are both very noble aspirations. Forced diversity and equality are dangerous because choices are made not on merit but some other enforced criteria.
It has been reported that the US Olympic Committee is following these very same societal gymnastics in wanting to have our teams reflect the complexity of our population. Exactly how does that make the American teams the best they can be. Not everyone gets picked to play on a team. That is just he way it is. Teams are built of the best able to compete and no other criteria is valid. Other criteria that are added to the selection process are artificial at best and undermining as fact.
The current era of set asides, goals and quotas owes it's lineage to the EEOC rulings of the past that allowed for preferential treatment of African Americans with the intent of providing access to higher education and fairness in the hiring process. Apparently on the grand scale those edicts have proved that some sixty years later to be ineffective. Unless of course you take government employees into effect because EEOC rules are the holy grail of federal, state and municipal jobs. Otherwise they have been Ineffective because two plus generations later African Americans are still "oppressed" or at the very least "disadvantaged" by their own estimation.
This very same psychology is at play today Minorities, women and LGBT are the prevailing protected classes. Already in place are set asides that require hiring a percentage of each group if business is being done under government contract. It matters not that other resources are available and dare I say often better. The result will be the same as before those protected or preferred groups will remain "oppressed" or "disadvantaged" because it will be in their best interest to be so.
Artificial criteria, goals or quotas are watering down devices that serve the political class very well. They look around their voter base count the various different ethic, religious, societal groups and cast a blanket over them with policies of special benefits and rights meant to endear and capture their votes.