Rewarding racism

In a zero sum game - if you dedicate your efforts for one ethnic group (of highly questionable construct as a 6th generation Tejano is not a Spaniard is not a Mexican is not a Cuban is not a ... well ... you get it ... ), the other's suffer. Contracts are a zero sum game.

Shame on our Navy. Shame on our leadership. Adopting the best practices of the Balkans is just asinine. From a NAVSEA email:

RDML Pat Brady - Hispanic Engineering National Achievement Award Conference (HENAAC) Award for Executive Excellence in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Congratulations to RDML Brady as the recipient of this prestigious award recognizing his important efforts in building a culture that values diversity. He spearheaded an initiative that opened doors to Hispanic-owned businesses interested in dealing with NUWC and championed a Memorandum of Understanding that will increase awareness of NAVSEA employment opportunities within the Hispanic community. RDML Brady will receive his award in mid-October at a ceremony in Houston. Congratulations!

I am sure that RDML Brady does not have a racist bone in his body. I don't blame him. A lot of us are pimped out by the Diversity Bullies.

All these programs make a full out of all of us. I don't come from a Navy family - I come from a family of entrepreneurs. As such, I am the Blacksheep of the family in a way. Any businessman worth his salt does not need to be patronizingly hand-held to find a market for his services. He looks for it. Another result of my family background, I also know the "unique" advantage we had by having one of our companies under my Mother's name when doing business with the gov'munt. Yes, I do bite that hand that fed me.

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UPDATE: Hey, the things you find out when you start digging. Perhaps RDML Brady has some issues I am not fully versed in.

He is a classic example of the problem we have with labels. A shock to me, but a man named "Patrick H. Brady" self-identifies himself as a Hispanic? Why? Well, it seems his father was,

...a former United States Army soldier of Irish-American and Hispanic descent.

He grew up in the, I guess, the Hispanic enclave of Camp Springs, MD to maintain his Hispanic cultural bonofides.

Oops, wrong again.

As of the census of 2000, there were 17,968 people, 6,210 households, and 4,831 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 2,475.9 people per square mile (955.6/km²). There were 6,494 housing units at an average density of 894.8/sq mi (345.4/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 20.07% White, 74.28% African American, 0.40% Native American, 2.33% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 1.07% from other races, and 1.79% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.44% of the population.

So what pray tell, does the fact a guy his civilian friends called "Pat" have with that background that allows him to call himself "Hispanic" or to provide a role model to other Hispanics?

Sir, I don't know you from Adam - but you have no clothes. Turn away from false ethnocentrism. You moved away from San Antonio to Maryland when you were 7. Objectively, this just makes you look silly, and like you have issues.

According to Brady, one of his passions with his involvement with Hispanic organizations, such as HENAAC and MAES, is to ensure that other Hispanics know the great opportunities that are available through education; and to ensure that no one has to change who they are (like his father did) in order to fit in and achieve the "American Dream." In 2006, HENAAC (Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference) convened an Executive Roundtable in Anaheim, California. Brady, who was a Roundtable Participant, emphasized in his speech the importance of recognizing and accepting ones Hispanic heritage.

Sir, let me be blunt in a respectful way - yet blunt. What Irish-American groups do you belong to? Using your logic, Sen. Obama (D-IL) is unquestionably White (not that there is anything wrong with that, I guess). At sea and ashore - "recognizing ones ethnicity" has absolutely no place. Zip, zero, nada. Wear green on St. Patrick's day or breading out the Tequilla on the 5th of May - sure, but that is about it. You have taken it to a whole other level. I would have a huge issue working with you if anyone I was being ranked against had a Hispanic name. I would defiantly have worries if I had a Hispanic background of some kind and had no desire to join any of these ethocentrin organizations - and you knew about it. There is plausible doubt in your objectivity.

This is the 21st Century, no one should be that obsessed with such a small portion of their DNA -- and it shouldn't matter with a person in a position of authority in a multi-ethnic environment - and bringing it into the workplace in spades. If it was me, we would all just be Sailors, but leadership seems to want to go down the path of failure of ethnocentrism for some reason. Being genetically all mixed up, like I am, you should be at the front of progressive unity, not retrograde ethnic tribalism like we see in Rwanda, Belgium, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Please excuse me sir if I don't congratulate you on your award. Do I seem a bit too direct? Perhaps, but it is your wrong ideas I have issues with, not you. I am sure you are a wonderful and loving husband and father and an outstanding Acquisition Professional doing great things for our Navy.

What I won't give ground on is my opinion of the cancerous stance you take WRT ethnocentrism - Hispanic ethnocentrism especially which as I mentioned at the top of the post is about as much of an artificial construct as there can be. You are no more part of an unique "ethnic" group in this nation than I am - than the Chilean of English extraction is "Hispanic." The Argentinean of German extraction is "Hispanic." The Mexican of 100% (as he insists on telling me) Castellian blood is "Hispanic." The Peruvian of 100% (as he insists on telling me) Inca blood is "Hispanic." The Cuban Jew is "Hispanic." Cultural? Well, then Americans from the Southeast should have the same treatment as you - as should anyone who decends from the Southerns who migrated to the Western USA in the 19th Century. .... see where this leads?

Your ethno-cultocentric view is part of the fetid backwash from '70 social theory and its grevience industry festering in our culture. Mine is based on historical fact about what does and does not work when it comes to national solidarity. Ethnocentrism, in its logical progression, leads to one thing; this.

Hat tip NAVSEA spy.