During a presentation by the Anchorage Human Resources Department, the Anchorage Assembly heard good news about how the municipality is doing when it comes to hiring a variety of people — minorities, women, disabled, and those with an ever-widening array of gender-identity-related issues.
Assemblyman Felix Rivera responded to the Affirmative Action presentation by saying the data isn’t really what anyone can rely on for good information. In his conversations in the community, he said that people have painted a different picture than the data shows. That picture is that there is great disparity in hiring in Anchorage.
The city, under direction of law, produces an Affirmative Action survey of its workforce and contracts annually. The report is to inform leaders about how inclusive they are in hiring.
“If you were to go and talk to people in the community especially BIPOC people and BIPOC leaders, and tell then that according to our Affirmative Action plan that ‘we’re all good to go with our hires, no need to worry,’ you know I can tell you myself based on the conversations I have and based on the experience I have experienced, I have in our community … that people would disagree with me entirely,” Rivera said at the end of the presentation.
“Just because the data says we’re good doesn’t really mean we’re good,” Rivera said, adding that bad data input leads to bad data output.
Rivera then reported that on public radio he heard a discussion about the problem of not having enough black lawyers in Alaska. “They spoke about the stagnation in the numbers of black lawyers in Alaska in the last decade, and how it’s pretty much not great,” Rivera said. He continued by saying the affirmative action plan “defends the status quo.”
Assemblyman Chris Constant agreed wholeheartedly that the plan defends the status quo.
Chief Anchorage Human Resources Officer Niki Tshibaka, who himself is a black lawyer, responded by saying that in order to get more black lawyers, there needs to be a wider approach, meaning focusing in on education and addressing other societal factors that lead to few black lawyers in Alaska. He also pointed out to the assemblymen that the percentages are not so awful as they were inferring, since there are not that many black people in Alaska overall, and since Anchorage is a majority white city.
According to data from the Alaska Bar Association, 2 percent of Alaska lawyers are Native and less than 1 percent are black. Blacks make up 3.28 percent of the Alaska population, while Natives comprise nearly 15 percent.
Listen to the Rivera remarks here:
So when Rivera says, “just because the data says we’re good, doesn’t mean we’re good”, does that also mean that when “the data” reported shows we are all going to die from some flu and have to get repeated vaccine shots and wear masks, does that mean that it is true?
Rivera and Constant are totally wrong and pitching the bogeyman ideology as usual
Affirmative Action:
It promotes discrimination in reverse.
Diversity can be just as bad as it can be good.
It changes accountability standards.
It lessens the achievements that minority groups obtain.
Personal bias will always exist.
They are just messing with us. Pay no attention
Based on the Anchorage Assembly’s wild and erratic antics, just from the past two years, I can honestly say that everyone within my sphere think the Assembly is a bunch of power hungry, manipulating, liars! AND, they continue to prove it every day with their words and actions.
You know, in the case of Felix Rivera, I do support an indefinite mask mandate.
Which do you recommend, a mask or a muzzle?
As I suggested for the current Anchorage Board of Education members (minus the one sane member, Dave Donley), it would most appropriately be a clown mask, with a big red rubber nose, and preferably airtight.
Ha! Thanks for the laugh. I needed it. 😉
So, subjective discussions Mr. Rivera as with citizens have more bearing than actual collected data? Well that certainly fits with the left where truth is typically pretty relative and emotions rule. And of course the variables behind those subjective conversations do not matter.
Exactly. Because he heard from some people something it means the data collected, probably at great cost to the taxpayers, is wrong.
.
Also, notice how it is wrong in the “you must hire more minorities” direction. Gee…. wonder if there is some personal bias there.
.
Finally, I ask him to prove it. A casual conversation is not proof of anything.
I don’t see any black people on the assembly. Maybe one of those men could give up their seat to a black woman and kill two birds with one stone. If they’re serious about it and all.
Forrest Dunbar should. Stephanie, a black woman, is running against him. It is the epitome of hypocrisy that someone so dedicated to equity is not rejecting his white privilege and stepping aside.
Affirmative Action is Government mandated discrimination and it weakens our corporations and institutions. Nobody should ever be asked their gender, their age, thier sexual preference or the color of their skin in order to qualify for a job. Gender, age, sexual preference and skin tone have no impact on their ability to perform the job. It should be based solely on their work related qualifications.
“Diversity is not found in counting and measuring our physical differences. Diversity is achieved when the physical differences between us cease to matter at all.” ~ Me
“The plural form of “anecdote” is not “data.”” said an observant lawmaker once upon a time.
He believed the data when he was jamming masks down our throats. Typical left. Only believe it something when it helps them
Wait, we have a racist unconstitutional Affirmative Action program in the city? So we’re supposed to make our hiring decisions based on what people look like rather than their qualifications? Kind of like the way Biden picks his nominees?
Here’s a crazy idea, Felix. How about we hire people based on their qualifications rather than what they look like? You know, like what Martin Luther King Jr. dreamt about.
Anytime there are political and racial/tribal/class status preferences, there is always going to be employment disparities and disputes. Now by my personal experience democrats have been more racist to me than republicans while brown crowds have been more racist to me than light skinned people. However. I am called to love and be patient with the racist anyway, and forgive them for being such a numbskull, when its probably me needing the patience.
Equal hiring all depends who the employment hires and promoted in charge hiring the supervisor’s team members. If the hiring supervisor holds preference. Then no brainer the team is going to reflect the supervisor’s political, racial, gender, appearence, and class status preferences. The workplace will be racist and toxic. People just got to learn to push themselves out of their comfortable social circle and see the value of other people starting with felix and democrats. As i said to one person, you be a whole lot better if you had new friends.
Geez. I’d be happy just to see GOOD lawyers.
Interesting, in order to discredit the city and the mayor, Mr. Rivera manipulates the narrative by talking to select grievance industry groups. That’s not really a surprise and predictable. He is not interested in facts. He is clearly agenda-only driven, putting his finger on the scale, to help those he sees as incapable of getting ahead without his magnanimous intervention.
And in (what passes for) his mind UP is down. North is South. West is East. And don’t argue because he’s always left but nobody ‘s “correct” except him (this week though gender pref. is subject to change without notice because requiring notice would be….RACIST!)
Anchorage is the largest village in Alaska. The largest group of AK Natives are here from very different cultures in Alaska: two eskimo very opposite groups, five distinct indian groups and a couple of aleut cultures. The “natives” are so different that dna strands are uniquely positioned oppositely placed indicating separate races. Then we have our dispossessing, displacing newcomer cultures. Forty nine (49) percent of AK Natives living in Anchorage are statically unemployed. They will never be hired no matter how hard they try because of impenetrable social barriers. No amount of gentle lies overcome this. If they become employed they receive constant social buffeting which may or may not be survivable. Much more on this if anyone is interested. Most newcomers are completely rascist and uninterested. It’s the (social) science.
If 49 percent of while men and women were statically denied any opportunity you hear some complaining I’m sure. If 49 percent of black men and women were were permanently on don’t hire shelf you’d have Seattle EEO hardcore experts up here filing federal cases. Same with latinos. As usual, the white macrosexuals take up all tbe ameliorating resources to fight their exclusive emergent social battles, hello aclu. So status quo remains. A fun time in the ok ak corral, eh? Who wants to fix things. Reapportionment is designed steal what little the poor people have. Isn’t that humorous, assembly persons?
I’m trying to be nice here. I thought we’d have made some progress. But no. Felix is the most empathic assembly person.
Public employment is supposedly supposed to “look” like the community. We don’t know. They are working from home to keep frim catching respiratory ailments. So that leaves out the homeless applicants (vets, natives, other minorities permanently a lttle bit hard the “families” but, what the heck).
Public employment is supposedly supposed to “look” like the community. We don’t know now. They are working from home to keep from catching respiratory ailments. So that leaves out the homeless applicants (vets, natives, other minorities permanently – a lttle bit hard the “families” but, what the heck).
The data on the 49 percent statically unemployment unemployed is old, raw data gleaned from voluntary survey done by natives themselves at native instituional gatherings. It was not “received” by the Anchorage professional hr communities because they didn’t want it. They do know about it. It is embarrassing and belongs under a rug.
ADN did publish such truthful commentary under previous not current management.
This is very firm social stratification in Anchorage causing complete permamaent economic harm in Anchorage. Who can feign surprise most self-righteously. We aren’t ready for change nor improvements.
Yeah, Felix, if we could just get rid of the pesky bar exam and the requirement for seven years of study post-high school, we could have many more BIPOC lawyers. Let’s get ride of testing and training for doctors, airline pilots, even driver’s licenses. It is all systemic racism. Good luck with that argument.
Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports one’s prior beliefs or values.[1] People display this bias when they select information that supports their views, ignoring contrary information, or when they interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing attitudes. The effect is strongest for desired outcomes, for emotionally charged issues, and for deeply entrenched beliefs. Confirmation bias cannot be eliminated entirely, but it can be managed, for example, by education and training in critical thinking skills.
Applause!
The only data Felix trusts is what he sprinkled fairy dust on.
Felix and Constant really have no clue about hiring process or numbers being fair and equal. They are very clouded.
Well I do know. The numbers have been beautifully arranged to not disturb the status quo because the assembly persons each and every one of them desire to avulse the unhireable from Anchorage. If they gain a toehold on wealth (mobile home) Californication Quinn will arrange to plan those homes out of existence or arrange bike paths through the homes of minorities in the area of people she represents and hates. Same thing with alphabet Weddleton.
So let me get this straight: A few anecdotes contradict the data, so Felix believes the anecdotes. There’s the kind of leader we need!
Also, can someone explain to me what BIPOC stands for?
Biracial and People of Color…esentially every single person in this country if not the planet.
Whatever happened to just hiring the most qualified to do the job? Sheeish, AA is really an old concept that has proven it hasn’t worked. It’s better to increase opportunities for education for minorities so they do become the best for the job.
Another one of those far-left liberalists!!! You have to believe what I believe!!! Because if you don’t, you’re wrong! Follow the science, not the data!!
The left is careful to avoid capturing the data and there are many ways to avoid it. How many natives applying for unemployment this week (fired, physically shoved out of the work place last month, 100), (how many natives applying for state or city retirement this month – 0; how many caucasians applying for retirement benefits this month – 20). How long has this been going? Oh forever. Why is this pertinent data not captured? Oh nobody wants to look at that except Seattle hard core EEO experts. If you invite thum they will come evidently and you have to pay thum to go away. No problem with the pristine data whatsoever eh Felix?
Also, what should I do, bus driver? Get three jobs again? You know what happened the last tyme I did that.
Who ya gonna believe? Me, or that lying data!!
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