[Vision2020] Religion Has No Part in Process

[Ted Moffett]

Mark et. al.

I'd like to have a dollar for every signature I've placed on some document
that I did not read in full, or if I did, did not fully comprehend.

I had the entire Catholic Mass memorized in Latin when I was 12 years old.
Did I understand it?  No.  So even my former statement that a discrimination
policy should be memorized might not address the issue.  If a discrimination
policy is written clearly and read by someone, and they scribble their
moniker indicating comprehension, this might have minimal impact compared to
actual training in diversity and tolerance, as Debi suggests.

And regarding Debi's post in this thread, I'm stunned by what she reports
regarding the fears and misgivings of minority individuals in our area.  I
do not want to believe this is true.  However, the words of Barbara
Richardson-Crouch, partner of former Sheriff Jeff Crouch, echo in my mind,
regarding the possible racism in our area.  If what Debi reports, and the
assertions of Barbara Richardson-Crouch below, have validity, the problems
are deeper than might appear:

http://www.newwest.net/index.php/city/article/3133/C142/L136

Moscow: We Have A Problem

by Joan Opry, 9-04-05

Prior to her departure for Connecticut, our most prominent African-American
citizen, Latah Economic Development Council Executive Director Barbara
Richardson-Crouch, did us the painful courtesy of sharing a few home truths
about how our small college town has fallen short of its liberal hype and
its progressive self-image. In an interview with David Johnson of the Lewiston
Tribune <http://www.lmtribune.com/>, Crouch said, "she's leaving a town
where racism has been given tacit approval.

Johnson reports:

"The entire town seems to say, 'why are you so upset?'" [said] Crouch, who
is black.

She acknowledges many people were upset with her after she told an audience
of more than 400 that she was leaving because Moscow is not a good place to
raise a multi-racial family. She made the comments during a panel discussion
following a local documentary movie titled 'My Town.' The movie by [Michael
Hayes] a Washington State University professor chronicled what some people
are calling a cultural divide in Moscow.

'I don't feel anyone has endangered my children or threatened to hurt them,'
says Crouch, 'but it's stuff like little kids don't want to be brown, and
I'm getting out before my little girl doesn't want to be brown.'

----------------
Ted Moffett


On 8/26/07, Mark Solomon <msolomon at moscow.com> wrote:
>
>  Ted,
>
>
> It's been a while since I helped write the county's personnel policy
> manual but I believe language similar to what you wrote is included. Each
> new employee must indicate they have read the policy with their signature.
>
>
> m.
>
>
> At 10:20 PM -0700 8/25/07, Ted Moffett wrote:
>
>
>
> Paul, keely et. al.
>
>
>
> Anyone hired for a public sector tax supported job should be explicitly
> informed before they assume their public duties that any form of
> discrimination or harassment, either toward fellow employees or the public,
> or in the hiring process, based on race, gender, religion, ethnicity or
> sexual orientation, is not acceptable.  Liability issues alone should
> justify that this explicit and clearly emphasised policy be memorized by any
> new employee.  Was this employee clearly informed of such a policy?  If you
> can't answer this question authoritatively, you both need to reconsider the
> slant of your statements.  If she was clearly informed of such a policy,
> then the LCSO is engaging in the proper orientation process for new
> employees, and she chose to ignore the policy or forgot.  If she was not
> informed of such a policy, make your own assessment of how well she was
> informed/educated about critical civil rights and discrimination issues in
> the hiring process by LCSO.
>
>
>
> Paul wrote:
>
>
>
> So, I see no reason to reprimand the Sheriffs Office for this except to
> suggest that they better enforce their computer usage policies.
>
> -----
>
> keely wrote:
>
>
> I agree with him that there is no cause at all for blaming the LCSO for
> one young woman's immature, poorly-thought-out communique.
> -----
>
> Ted Moffett
>
>
>
>
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