FEDtalk: A Dialogue about Racism in the Federal Government
In the most recent FEDtalk podcast episode, Alice Mercer, Chairperson of the Blacks in Government (BIG) Committee on Affirmative Action/ Equal Employment Opportunity, Margaret Williams, Vice-Chair of the Senior Executives Association (SEA) Board of Directors, and Chad Hooper, National President of the Professional Managers Association (PMA) discuss the implications of racism within federal agencies. BIG is a government-wide organization that strives for racial equality in governance for black Americans. SEA is the professional association for career members of the Senior Executive Service (SES) and other senior government leaders. PMA represents management and non-collective bargaining unit eligible employees at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Mercer, representing BIG, emphasizes that the goals of her organization are multifaceted- combatting prejudice, promoting black excellence, disseminating accurate information, and being non-partisan. They also strive to provide resources, education, and mentorship to young black Americans in government.
Williams, representing SEA, suggests that diversity in higher rungs of government is key to combatting systemic racism- non-SES portion of the federal workforce is 18% black, but the SES is less than 11% black.
Hooper continues to explain that in February of 2020, “the largest customer service operation in the IRS…was not offering multilingual assistance to taxpayers in the United States,” but now does following initiative by PMA. He furthers that internal advocacy is necessary to combat discrimination in federal agencies as is acknowledging and fighting microaggressions and implicit bias.
A few of the suggestions made by the panel to solve these problems include breaking old paradigms that exist in the federal government, hosting trainings that are thorough and useful, collaborating with low-level and high-level employees, and combating reprisal retaliation.
Catch new episodes of FEDtalk every other Friday on Federal News Network, Apple Podcasts, or Podcast One.
FEDtalk is a live talk show produced by Shaw Bransford & Roth P.C., a federal employment law firm. Bringing you the insider’s perspective from leaders in the federal community since 1993. FEDtalk is sponsored by FedPoint who administers the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sponsored Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP). Start planning for the future. Take the next step and visit FedPointusa.com today.