|
Several months ago I said to a colleague, “Where are the minority contractors working on this construction project? I can’t recall ever seeing a Black or Latino person working on this thing.” My colleague replied, “I don’t know. But you noticed it too. I thought I was the only one.”
This article is not to point the finger at anyone in particular because we all share blame—including me. How many of you, like me, noticed the lack of color among the men working on the construction project and didn’t say anything? But why didn’t we say anything? Did we think that our voice really wouldn’t make a difference? Or Like me, a newbie to RHD, you didn’t want to make waves?
RHD spent upwards of 4 million dollars on this project. I was told, of the many contractors working on the project, only two crews had men of color working with them. There were two black men working with the steel contractors that laid the foundation on the roof in the new area; and one of the men who put in the gas lines was black.
How do we prevent this from happening in the future? Unfortunately, I don’t think RHD will be spending another 4 million on an expansion project anytime soon. But there is the continued improvement/repair work at the units that require the hiring of contractors. I for one have already started; I connected Anna with a licensed and insured African American contractor, Skillsbank Building Association. They are willing to accept some =$s too. So let’s see what happens. What are you going to do?
Just to clarify, when I refer to contractors I’m talking about companies who are paid tens of thousands of dollars or more to hire men to complete projects, not the young men that are hired to help Gerald and Shawn to move our desks around.
Trackback(0)
 |
Articles 
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comments
Show/Hide comment form