LETTER TO SLC HUMAN RESOURCES

Note: This letter was sent 4 months prior to losing my badge and gun for discrimination. 

 XXXXXXX,

I hope you didn’t feel that I was challenging you as a person with my problem with the material. To me, what needs to change in the world is how a certain race (in the case we talked about happened to be a white person) will be passed for a job or promotion just to equalize the pie chart.

I understand what you were saying when you asked the question “what if both people were the exact same on paper, how else could we hire, to fix the problem?” But there has got to be a better way that to look at race and sex to “balance it out”. I don’t think it’s a problem to have the demographics match to the state. I think it would be a problem to all involved, by artificially placing people in positions they are not qualified for; just to try and make the pie chart “even”. It can and never will be even, because we all have different talents to bring to the table; and a lot happen to be mixed races.

It naturally creates two problems-

First, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc, shouldn’t even be brought up during any type of hiring or promotion process. It will automatically discriminate against the person who belongs to the larger category (if two people are the exact same on paper), so the pie chart needs to be “equalized”, whether that be white for the larger category, or the second category of Hispanic, etc, all the way down the line. With this thinking, someone will always be discriminated on. True diversity celebration is not trying to change the demographics of the culture, but celebrating the culture itself; what we do have.

The second problem it creates is that it’s not fair to a woman or minority in the long run. It may seem like a temporary “fix” but it’s a slippery slope. I’ll explain..

We as human beings all have a sense of self worth inside. We all want to earn what we get and get what we earn; there’s power in this. However, when someone is promoted or hired just because of their race, etc, that self worth goes out the window; and self empowerment is lost.  We wouldn’t feel like we actually got the job off our own merits.

Likewise, it creates a hostile work environment with other employees that go for the positions. I’ve actually talked to a woman in our organization that feels the same way I just described. She has been promoted and doesn’t know if it’s because of her own merits, or because of the manipulation of the process. Think how she must feel deep inside.

The solution-

We hire based on character and competence, and not gender, race, sexual orientation, etc. I know that you said there’s a lot of politics behind this material and you don’t agree with some of it; but something needs to be changed. The irony is this philosophy is doing the exact thing that was happening in the 60’s, except opposite colors.

I would love to talk to you more how to cultivate a different approach in this thinking; to see if there’s a better and healthier way for the future. Let me know and I’m thrilled you liked the book. That’s the kind of material that should be on the forefront of any training. Treating people like we want to be treated.

Eric Moutsos

“You cannot have a legal right to a moral wrong.” Abraham Lincoln