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PARTISAN REVIEW
easy.
It
still has to contend with the "perception" of racism. The presti–
gious New York law firm of Wei I, Gotshal, and Manges commissioned a
"culture audit" - a mainstay of the "managing diversity" movement - to
determine which, if any, of its policies and practices were discriminatory.
The audit uncovered virtually no instances of bias, but the firm went
ahead with a major diversity effort anyway, on the advice of its consul–
tants. According to managing partner Ellen O'Doner, co-chair of the
firm's diversity committee, "there is a perception [among the firm 's black
lawyers] that the criteria for advancement are not applied evenly, and
one can't tell if that perception is true or false outside of context." The
perception among the firm's partners that the firm is a l11 eritocracy was
given no weight.
The Subcommittee on Retention of the Committee to Enhance
Professional Opportunities for Minorities of the New York City Bar
Association surveyed minority lawyers in New York City on their work
experiences. The opinions of blacks, on the one hand, and of Asian–
Americans and Hispanics, on the other, differed radically. Whereas the
vast preponderance of blacks complained of differential treatment, an
even greater preponderance - approaching one hundred percent - of
Asians and Hispanics said that they were treated equally.
The subcommittee's conclusions were absolutely predictable. While
admitting that the "perceptions" of "race-related barriers" on the part of
black lawyers "are not based on the animus that we normally associate
with racial discrimination" - in other words, that they have no ground–
ing in actual instances of racism - the subcommittee's report warned that
such perceptions are "a matter which the firms cannot afford
to
ignore."
It
recommended that "the environment in organizations that gives rise
to such perceptions ... be remedied through such techniques as diversity
training," even though the report never identified
whaf
in such
"environments" is discriminatory. The subcommittee also recommended
that the Bar Association hire a Diversity Director (which the Association
promptly did).
"Perceptions" of racism are also rampant in journalism. Former
Washingtorl Post
writer Jill Nelson charges in her book,
Voll/rlfeer Slavery,
that
The Post
killed or heavily edited her stories out of racial disrespect,
even though by her own admission she was "studiously garbling the
English language because [she] thought that 'real' black people didn't
speak standard English." The National Association of Black Journalists
released a poll this July of its members and their managers on the avail–
ability of career-advancing opportunities to blacks. The poll found a
huge chasm between the perceptions of the journalists and their largely
white managers: the black journalists complained that they were denied
