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have withdrawn their complaints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.’’