Hiring practices

Feb 08, 2022 Letters

Dear Editor,

Kaieteur News – The travails of Brian Flores, ex-head coach of the Miami Dolphins, an NFL team, have just begun, with a long road ahead of him. But like the groundbreaking Curt Flood suit in baseball, I think he is on to something that could also be pioneering. For black coaches in search of head coaching gig in the NFL, Mr. Flores lawsuit alleging discrimination in hiring practices by NFL teams, especially for head coaches could fall on rich soil in the realms of jurisprudence, with his legal battle going right up to the US Supreme Court for final adjudication.

Editor, I bring up Coach Flores anguish and issue because there is acute and sweeping discrimination in employment flourishing here in Guyana. It is not in sport, but in the serious business of hiring, so that citizens can make an honest living, the serious business of governance, and the serious business of transformational leadership ethics. To be fair, there is a brutal history of such domestic discrimination; it is not merely alleged or imagined, but real.

It happened during the Burnham era, and I know from experience. I know from hearing, observing, assessing, and concluding. I know from losing out inexplicably. That discrimination in the workplace, or to get into it, was one engine that powered migration. Now it returns in fearsome, sinister forms. In this Oil Age, the shoe has another foot, with the PPP/C Government, and its leaders (big dogs, fat cats, and lesser fishes), delivering dirty deeds that reek of discrimination. It is not just of race alone. The discrimination occurs because of perceived loyalties from record, public utterances, and physical appearance. If the candidate is of that configuration and complexion, unknown to us, not of the club, then he or she is not to be a trusted follower, because there could only be one association politically, which is with adversary. In this country, there is no mentality, no tolerance, for neutrality, independence, professionalism, objectivity, one is for or against. Thus, no chances are taken in recruiting a possible rogue employee, a political fifth columnist.

Now I roll up sleeves and cut through the official smog that obscures these discriminatory practices. Advertisements are a trick or treat exercise to the farce of an already done deal. The experiences of highly qualified applicants for public sector jobs stand and speak powerfully. I know some people, hear their dismay. Coach Flores exposed that nude canvas in the cathedral that is the NFL and America’s judicial system. Applications are fixed, prearranged, and preselected. Interviews function as formal exercises in fairness and equitable treatment when they are nothing but going through the motions for the record. As for the records, this is where reality surrenders before official and political rogueries. The scoring sheets are marked crookedly, with the blatantly subjective flying in the face of truths, facts, and accuracy.

Editor, in this modern era of resume refining, interview coaching, and personal polishing and preparing, we are sold this piranha in a purse and assured that it is a parrot that speaks truth. It is where outstanding candidates (of a certain stripe) did so poorly in interviews that outstanding credentials don’t matter, where even those are degraded, allowing lesser fry to trump them repeatedly in the competition for public service spots. It is a case of doctoring paper, so that weaker applicants emerge successful. And all this occurs under banners of equal opportunity and nondiscrimination standards. What is hidden now will see light in this likely far-reaching suit brought by Coach Flores against the NFL. America will look smaller for it, Rooney rule notwithstanding, pious pontification also. Guyana will have no such richness, for this is a land with leaders (and people) who talk high, but live in the lowest of the low. I know that, too.

Sincerely,
GHK Lall

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