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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 4, 2015)
February 4, 2015 The Portland Observer Black History Month Page 7 Facing Racism on the Job continued from page 3 drag the man behind a truck. The complaints also alleged mi- nority employees, "including but not limited to black, African Ameri- can, Egyptian and Vietnamese," were subjected to threats and sabotage in the workplace. Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian announced the settle- ment on Thursday. The complaints had been filed with his office last year. Avakian said the $2.4 million in- cludes attorney fees for the six work- ers and a fund to deal with future complaints. Five additional complainants have withdrawn their complaints against Daimler and stated their in- tention to go to civil court. Daimler said in a statement it had cooperated with Avakian's investi- gation and is committed to diver- sity. A company statement released last year said there is a zero-toler- ance policy related to discrimina- tion at Daimler, and anti-discrimina- tion training is required for all em- ployees. Reversing History of Illness continued from page 4 communities of color.’’ The fifth Health Department dis- parities report in a decade and the most comprehensive yet was re- leased in December. It reviewed the underlying causes of poor health such as economic status, educa- tion, literacy, air quality, access to healthy food and health care. “This report is not about healthcare, it’s about health,’’ said Health Department Director Joanne Fuller. “We’re really talking about... the totality of people’s lives. That totality includes racism and discrimi- nation that research shows has a deep and lasting impact on people’s health.” Gerald Deloney, co-chair of the group Communities of Color, said that as disturbing as the findings are, people of color were not sur- prised. “We live this on an everyday basis, and we know how bad that it really is,” Deloney said. Among the findings were fig- ures showing that infant mortal- ity and deaths from diabetes for local African Americans was 2 ½ times higher than non-Latino whites and six times the rates of homicide. African Americans were also four times as likely to have chil- dren living in poverty, and were twice as likely to be unemployed, have children not meeting third- grade reading standards and live in a single-parent household. Native American and Alaska Natives were three times as likely to have children in poverty and have twice the rates of unemploy- ment, teen births and smoking. Latinos had 3 ½ times the teen birth rate and twice the rate of children in poverty, children not meeting third-grade reading stan- dards and homicide. Asian/Pacific Islanders had twice the rate of needing health insurance than whites and were more likely to live in areas of poor air quality and neighborhoods that lacked healthy food retailers. During an emotional briefing on the findings, Suzanne Hansche, the Elders in Action representa- tive to the Oregon Health Equity Alliance, asked the board of com- missioners to support the group’s legislative agenda as part of their approach to reducing disparities. Among their key items: a “Ban the box,’’ bill that would stop some- one with a criminal conviction from being automatically disqualified for work and a policy that sup- ports paid sick leave. She also asked the board to invest in com- munity efforts and programs out- side the Health Department. The Health Department listed several ways it will address the in- equities, including making more in- vestment in early childhood and adolescence programs; creating a public health advisory board and formal Community Health Improve- ment Plan to authentically engage the community and build on com- munity-based strengths; and in- creasing culturally-specific and community specific approaches to healthcare. “The disparities my colleagues have spoken of are unacceptable,’’ said Rujuta Gaonkar, manager of the Health Equity Initiative at the Multnomah County Health Depart- ment. “Moreover they are avoid- able.” Gaonkar said that as the single parent of color of a four-year old, her son sees the future as limitless. “I don’t want that to change and the reality is that I also have a job that affords me paid sick leave, I have access to healthy food, and afford- able, high-quality education. I want to be able to say that for every child growing up in Multnomah County and right now, I cannot.’’
