Green Activist Out to Break Link Between Poverty and Pollution
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to a special edition of IN THE MONEY, uncovering America. A look at diversity in the workplace. I'm Carol Costello. Coming up on today's program. Turn up the heat; America is supposed to be the world's melting pot. See why is diversity in business is taking so long to sink in. Plus skin deep, the way your body looks can affect the salary you get. Kind of like things you can't control matter so much on payday. A breath of fresh air, meet a green activist who is out to break the link between poverty and pollution. We will hear about how she's changing a New York neighborhood. I'm here today with IN THE MONEY regulars, Jennifer Westhoven and Allen Wastler and I'm happy to be here. Because it is a cool show. American business has come a long way toward diversity in just a few short decades, but despite all that progress, companies are still falling shorts of the mark. If that's surprising what is even more remarkable, is that it is taking so long to do something so simple. For a look at what is going on we're joined from Atlanta by Beverly Daniel Tatum, she is the president of Spellman College, a clinical psychologist and the author of "Why are all the Black Kids Sitting together in the Cafeteria." Welcome.</s>BEVERLY DANIEL TATUM, PRESIDENT, SPELLMAN COLLEGE: Thank you, I'm glad to be here.</s>COSTELLO: I can't believe we're still talking about this, you would think by there time we have it together?</s>TATUM: Sometimes we overrate our own progress. One of the things we don't acknowledge very often but our society continues to be pretty racially isolated. People live in segregated neighborhoods and our students go to segregated schools.</s>ALLEN WASTLER, MANAGING EDITOR, CNNMONEY.COM: Beverly, being a white male on the panel, I'm going to go ahead and address this. When the subject of diversity comes up, intellectually I understand all the arguments, but there is a little piece of my psyche that gets a little bit defensive and a little bit angry about why are with talking about this? Is there something wrong with me? And I imagine that's a big factor in how America looks at the subject and how it is really addressed in the workplace. You're a clinical psychologist, am I nuts?</s>TATUM: No, I think your comment is right on the money in terms of what people often feel. Often it is the sense of what about me? Am I being left out? Where do I fit in? If I'm a white man where do I fit into this diversity conversation? But, of course, we all fit in because we all contribute to the diversity of the workplace. One thing we have to understand is how our own identity interfaces with those of other people and how we've been socialized to think about that. That's part of the conversation.</s>JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How do you get away from the thought that companies are hiring an African-American just simply because they're African-American? In Michigan the voters voted against an affirmative action. Some people are really angry about this.</s>TATUM: First of all, I think it is important to say that companies are not supposed to hire somebody just because of their race. They're supposed to hire them because they have the qualifications for the position. Now certainly when you're evaluating candidates and you're looking for diversity in your organization and you find candidates that have the qualifications and then also add to your diversity, it makes sense to hire in that way. But I think that the vote in Michigan and other kinds of affirmative what we might call anti-affirmative action initiatives have often been couched in such a way that people don't always clearly understand what it is that they're voting for.</s>WESTHOVEN: Your book "Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria." Does that also apply to the workplace? Are all the black executives sitting together at the cafeteria? All the Latinos executives sitting together? And is they are is that good or is that bad, what does that mean?</s>TATUM: Well certainly in a lot of workplaces, if you walk into the cafeteria you'll find people clustered along racial or ethnic lines. One of the things that people sometimes ask, is this a bad thing? I like to say it depends; it can be a positive thing to connect with people who are sharing your experience. Some companies create those opportunities intentionally. Whether it is the women's network or the African-American network, or the Latina Organization. Creating opportunities for people who have shared experiences to connect with one another is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact it can be helpful to retention, and recumbent efforts. But it is also important to create opportunities for people to engage across lines so they're working effectively in diverse groups, contributing to the bottom line of the business and its success.</s>WASTLER: Well how are we doing right now, Beverly? Are we doing a good job of that. I mean Corporate America, is American business doing a good job of that or do we just have some isolated examples where companies do well and some others do so-so.</s>TATUM: I think certainly a range. Every year Diversity Inc. comes out with a ranking of universities and businesses that are doing a good job of diversity and those issues. But one of the things that I was going to say as it relates to that is that leadership makes a huge difference. When you have strong leadership at the top, you'll find that companies are able to make the changes that they need to be more effective in terms of the diversity efforts. Where the leadership is absent, you don't see such good results. It really depends upon the leadership. But one of the things we have to acknowledge, it is not just what happens at work, it also what happens at school and in the environment. Workplaces are, are reflection of what is happening in the wider society. Certainly businesses can be leaders and as we've talked about, they provide a unique opportunity for people to connect across racial lines because there are not that many opportunities outside of the workplace for that to happen in today's society still.</s>COSTELLO: Lots to mull over. Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of Spellman College thanks for joining us today.</s>TATUM: My pleasure.</s>WASTLER: When we come back, cash for change. See how companies are spending to make the workplace more inclusive. Plus, more than words, last time