Position promotes discrimination

The Jan. 21 letter to the editor, “County on the right path with recruiter” invoked Martin Luther King’s name to advocate for the county to hire an “inclusion manager” or “diversity recruiter.” Creating such a position runs counter to the ideas MLK layed out in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In that speech he says “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

If the county creates this position, which will “aggressively recruit” minorities and “better connect them to county government job opportunities and contracts” (Herald, Jan. 14), it will actively promote the racism that MLK fought against. To give people more access to and help in getting county jobs and contracts based only on the color of their skin is racism. Instead, county jobs and contracts should be given to the best qualified, period. Whether the best qualified are all white males or black females is irrelevant.

This shows that the county executive and council do not think minorities are intelligent enough or capable enough to apply for county jobs or contracts without extra help. The county already has an equal employment opportunity investigator to watch for discrimination. Let us not also hire an “inclusion manager,” a position that will in effect promote discrimination.

Kirk Randall

Edmonds