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A
recent edition of Newsweek Magazine examines a contemporary America where
Black women outpace Black men as they “ascend to the
professional-managerial class” in business and industry.
The newsmagazine questions the viability of Black women if “Black
men succumb to the hopelessness of prison and the streets.”
This
summer the Supreme Court issued an opinion in favor of what some call the most
important decision that effects how the races live and work together, or
apart, since the landmark Brown vs. The Board of Education: a case where the University of Michigan defended its admission
policies that seek to diversity the school’s student body.
Over 300 of America’s largest and most respected corporations
joined other elite institutions of higher education and signed legal
briefs filed in support of Michigan’s Affirmative Action policies.
Hundreds
of books will be written and sold interpreting the decision from every
point of view imaginable. America is looking for suggestions on how to
diversify its schools and businesses, or in some cases, how not to. Yes,
in spite of the success of men like Colin Powel and AOL-Time Warner’s
Richard Parson, black men in general are still being held down on the
lowest rung of the corporate ladder.
Even with the diversity clamor, corporate America generally seems
to still say, there is a place for the brothers, but not anywhere that
will make us uncomfortable.
BROTHERS @ THE GATE looks at
the challenges to
diversity, the affects resistance to it has had on one segment of the
American workforce, namely black men, methods to remove those challenges
and the benefits our society will gain from a fully diversified workforce.
BROTHERS
@ THE GATE weaves the tales of several black men into an inspirational
self-help guide for anyone committed to removing the final vestiges of the
glass ceilings that have traditionally denied corporate advancement
opportunities to black men.
BROTHERS
@ THE GATE illustrates how black men and organizations where we work can
work better together at understanding each other to fully utilize every
ounce of inspiration, ingenuity, creativity and sweat equity now wasted by
racism and ignorance.
Because
Black men are fired or laid off at a rate staggeringly higher than whites,
and there are almost 1 million black men in prison with a fifth of that
number in college, it is evident that we have much work to do.
BROTHERS
@ THE GATE is aimed to heal the hearts and minds of those of us scarred by
inequity in the workforce but are unable to articulate this inequity in an
age of political correctness where words like “Jim Crow” and “uppity
nigger” have been replaced by phrases like “inability to
assimilate,” and “cocky and arrogant.” The book, like no other one
has, tells what it feels like from first hand accounts to be on the wrong
end of the decision that says “you’re not qualified,” “you don’t
have the experience,” “you’re not management material,”
“you’re on probation,” “we’ve decided to lay you off,”
“you’re fired.” “Guard, take his badge.”
The book follows these decisions home, into the bedroom,
counseling, church, and into the streets, sometimes homeless, sometimes
turning to crime.
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