Conference 7.286::digital

	I would prefer not to comment on a report of a report. Could
	someone who has read the origional report (*not* the Globe's
	report of it) give some more information. Were regional differences
	taken into account. I believe that they are fewer blacks in New 
	Hampshire (for example) then New York. This makes it harder to
	have like percentages of blacks in NH operations. I don't believe
	that MA has all that many blacks either. In places that have higher
	numbers of blacks in the genaral population DEC has higher numbers
	of black workers.

	Personally I believe that DEC takes AA/EOC *very* seriously.

				Alfred

Today's "USA Today" newspaper (Thurs., Jan. 5th) has a piece on this on
page 2B, in the business section.

In a portion of it there is a list entitled 'The 50 that made the list'. I'm
happy to say that Digital is included.

Black Enterprise magazine compiled the list.

It's pretty dismal if the Glob can't properly quote such an article to
include on of Mass.'s largest private employers...

Lee

    Digital may be on the list, but as well as not being mentioned
    by the Boston Globe, Digital was not mentioned in a feature
    about the article on Nightly Business Report on Channel 2 last
    night.  The mistake was made worse by the fact that IBM inclusion
    in the list was not ignored.  
    
    And Digital is one of the main sponsers of Nightly Business Report,
    not that that should make us influnce the content of their program,
    but at least it should ensure that when they are doing a feature that 
    involves Digital, thier information should be accurate.

    Do you really think that the people who put the news together really
    know or care who the sponsors are?  They're doing a job, and the people
    who obtain sponsorships are doing another.  They're not the same
    people.
    
John

    And you really think the newsies don't know who butters their bread?
    I presume they watch their own show occasionally, and therefore know
    full well who the sponsers are, even better than we do.

>    And you really think the newsies don't know who butters their bread?
    
    Why should they care?  What difference does it make to them one way or
    another?  They aren't supposed to be prejudicial to sponsors in their
    reporting, and their paychecks probably don't say anything about
    sponsors...
    
John

    In the case of the Nightly Business Report, DIGITAL is not so much a
    sponsor as a patron, splitting hairs I know.
    
    Anyone who saw the Q4 figures announced by Paul on NBR knows full well
    that he knows where his bread is buttered.  
    
    :^)
    Marge

    Since I brought up the matter in .3, I would like to clarify that I'm
    not asking that the news be spun in any way because Digital is a
    patron.  However, I would hope that any news program that is going
    to feature an item, would at least go to the expense of buying the
    magazine whose article they are featuring and not rely, as seems
    to be the case here, on a secondhand inaccurate report from the
    Boston Globe.

    
    	As a former Broadcast Journalist (10 years of experience), this
    discussion on what material to use in light of who the sponsor is
    brings back some vivid memories of various incidents:
    
    	1)  like one election night when a local car dealer was sponsoring
    	    the local election coverage and our lead story at 11 PM
    	    was on a number of fines and penalties the dealer's parent
    	    Auto firm was hit with that day.  
    
    	2)  numerous instances when the Reporter checking a story out
    	    was told that "If you air this story, I'll NEVER do any
  	    more business with your station again" and then (gleefully)
    	    standing up to the Sales Manager when he/she came huffing
    	    down to the Newsroom to get our side of the story.
    
    As for checking out the accuracy of EVERY story which is aired,
    the Boston GLOBE has an EXCELLENT reputation in journalistic circles
    for accuracy, etc.  A GLOBE story will not be checked as closely
    as a story from the HERALD.  Besides, to most journalists, the story
    we're getting so upset about in this Note is no big deal anyway
    and is not worth the time and aggravation .
    
    	(And I hope I'm not opening up a RAThole here.)
    
    								-Steve

>    	(And I hope I'm not opening up a RAThole here.)

	Too late!

		Mike

    May I quote (unauthorized) from Black Enterprise, February 1989,
    page 88:
    
    "DIGITAL, Maynard, Mass.
    
    It will take a racially diverse company to be a strong performer
    in the world economy, say top-ranking managers at Digital.  In fact,
    President Kenneth H. Olsen states in the company's equal opportunity
    creed that "an environment which values differences is critical
    to each employee's ability to succeed and to the success of the
    corporation." 
    
    Programs that targets job (sic) on all levels for minorities and
    women, and "Managing Difference", which deals with fairness issues,
    have enabled blacks and others to become productive members of the
    Digital team.  Meeting the company's EEO commitments is urged --
    and managers are evaluated on how well they do it.
    
    As a result, more than 16.6% of the computer manufacturer's more
    than 140,000 workers are minorities and about 10% are managers.
    Digital has one black on its board of directors.
    
    The company's top managers also interact with Senior Minority Managers,
    a (sic) employee association that helps integrate minority managers
    into the corporate culture."

    
    Now, what was the problem?!  
    
    Sherry

>    Now, what was the problem?!  

Well, one problem is that next Monday is not an 11th Company Holiday.  Instead,
it's observed as a location choice holiday in Roxbury and Atlanta and maybe a
few other places.

Let us all think about the dream of a color-blind society, and let Roxbury have
Patriot's Day off with the rest of the Commonwealth, and let Atlanta have an
appropriate local holiday (Margaret Mitchell's birthday :-) -- not Confederate
Memorial Day!).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

				"I HAVE A DREAM"

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand,
signed the Emancipation Proclamation.  This momentous decree came as a great
beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the
flames of withering injustice.  It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long
night of captivity.

But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is
still not free.  One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly
crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.
One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the
midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.  One hundred years later, the
Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself
an exile in his own land.  So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling
condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation's Capital to cash a check.  When the
architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and
the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which
every American was to fall heir.  This note was a promise that all men would be
guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar
as her citizens of color are concerned.  Instead of honoring this sacred
obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check; a check which has
come back marked "insufficient funds."  But we refuse to believe that the bank
of justice is bankrupt.  We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds
in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.  So we have come to cash this
check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the
security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency
of *now*.  This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the
tranquilizing drug of gradualism.  *Now* is the time to make real the promises
of democracy.  *Now* is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of
segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.  *Now* is the time to lift our
nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to
underestimate the determination of the Negro.  This sweltering summer of the
Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating
autumn of freedom and equality.  Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a
beginning.  Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will
now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as
usual.  There will be neither rest nor tranquillity in America until the Negro
is granted his citizenship rights.  The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to
shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm
threshold which leads into the palace of justice.  In the process of gaining our
rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.  Let us not seek to
satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and
hatred.  We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and
discipline.  We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical
violence.  Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting
physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead
us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as
evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny
is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our
freedom.  We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead.  We cannot
turn back.  There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When
will you be satisfied?"

We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable
horrors of police brutality.

We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of
travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the
cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller
ghetto to a larger one.

We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a
Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls
down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and
tribulations.  Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells.  Some of you
have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the
storms of persecution and the winds of police brutality.  You have been the
veterans of creative suffering.  Continue to work with the faith that unearned
suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back
to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our
Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and
frustrations of the moment I still have a dream.  It is a dream deeply rooted
in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true
meaning of its creed:  "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men
are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former
slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at
the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state
sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into
an oasis of freedom and justice.  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.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are
presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be
transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be
able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together
as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and
mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the
crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be
revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope.  This is the faith with which I return to the South.  With
this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of
hope.  With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of
our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle
together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that
we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new
meaning, "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of this I sing.  Land
where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let
freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.  So let freedom
ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.  Let freedom ring from the
mighty mountains of New York.  Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies
of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!  Let freedom ring from
the curvaceous peaks of California!  But not only that; let freedom ring from
Stone Mountain of Georgia!  Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.  From every
mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every
hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day
when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles,
Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of
the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last!  Free at last!  Thank God Almighty, we
are free at last!"

28 August 1963

:        Programs that targets job (sic) on all levels for minorities and
:    women, and "Managing Difference", which deals with fairness issues,
:    have enabled blacks and others to become productive members of the
:    Digital team.  
:
    
    	I would like to think that it was ability, ambition, and hard
    work that "enabled blacks and others to become productive members
    of the Digital team."
    
    -Don-

    re: .12
    
|>    Now, what was the problem?!  
|
|Well, one problem is that next Monday is not an 11th Company Holiday.  Instead,
|it's observed as a location choice holiday in Roxbury and Atlanta and maybe a
|few other places.

    Why is this a problem?  Washington's birthday, Lincoln's birthday,
    etc. are not company holidays; why should King's be treated differently?

	re .11: One sentence from that report has me a little confused:

>    As a result, more than 16.6% of the computer manufacturer's more
>    than 140,000 workers are minorities and about 10% are managers.

	Literally, this means 10% of Digital's workers are managers, but
	in context I don't think that's what the author meant. Does this
	mean that 10% of minority workers at Digital are managers? If so,
	a little more context would be helpful (i.e., what percentage of
	non-minority workers are managers?). Or perhaps they meant to say
	that 10% of managers at Digital or minorities.

	Mike

>    Now, what was the problem?!  

	Apparently, the problem (as stated in .0) was inaccurate or 
	incomplete reporting on the part of the Boston Globe.

	I believe that the question I posed in .0 has been answered
	and suggest that further discussions around company holidays
	be addressed in a separate note (there probably already
	is one -- this comes up every January).

Frank

    Re: [.13]:
    
    � I would like to think that it was ability, ambition, and hard
    � work that "enabled blacks and others to become productive members
    � of the Digital team."

    I should like to think so too, and I accept that Digital's record is
    good.  But ability, ambition, and hard work are not sufficient to
    overcome prejudices in the workplace.  
    
    To pick on someone else, I cite American professional sports leagues:
    baseball had great trouble hiring its first black manager (eventually
    Frank Robinson broke the color barrier); football has yet to see its
    first black head coach; yet basketball has had many.  It's impossible
    to explain these facts solely on the basis of the ability, ambition,
    and hard work of black assistant managers/coaches. 

	Re: Confederate Memorial Day 
	To: John Covert

	What's wrong with Confederate Memorial Day or Robert E. Lee's 
	Birthday (which I believe is a State Holiday in Virginia) ?  Those
	days are important to their States heritages and history. 

	In case you didn't know .... the Civil War was not initiated on
	the sole pretense to preserve Slavery.  The issue of emancipation
	did not come into effect until late 1862, many many months after 
	the start of the war.

	Chuck

	My apologies to both The Boston Globe and The Nightly 
        Business Report for suggesting in earlier replies to this 
        topic that they misread the report.
        
        Having got the February Edition of Black Enterprise it 
        states:-  "The '50 Best' was divided into two sections : 
        'The Best of the Best' and 'Companies to Watch in the 
        90s'."  Digital was included in the second section.  So 
        for The Boston Globe to ignore Digital in its report was 
        a correct decision.
        
        Not having worked in a Corporation outside Digital in 
        America, I'm in no position to comment on how well Black 
        Enterprise did in their classification.  Though I would 
        be interested in the views of more experienced people.
        
        The companies included in the First Division were:
        
        AT@T, Amtrak, Anheuser-Busch, Atlantic Richfield, Avon, 
        Chase, Chrysler, Coca-C, Coors, Kodak, Equitable, Exxon, 
        Federal Express, Ford, Gannett, General Mills, GM, 
        Hallmark, IBM, J&J, Kellogg, Kraft, McDonalds, Merck, NC 
        Mutual, Penny, Pepsi, Philip Morris, NY Port Authority, 
        Proctor and Gamble, Ryder, Seagram, Soft Sheen, US Army 
        and Xerox.

    As a History/Civil War "buff", I simply have to comment on the very
    false impression given in .12's dissertation on Lincoln.
    
    The Emanicipation Proclamation was a purely political gimmick used
    to pressure the Confederate States, particularly the border states,
    to rejoin the Union.  It was publicized in mid-62, but was intended
    to go into effect on Jan 1, 63.  It applied only to slaves in those
    states "presently in a state of rebellion".  Clearly it didn't work,
    and it did not apply at all to the thousands of slaves held in states
    which were not in rebellion.
    
    Lincoln was a strong advocate of sending all blacks elsewhere, either
    back to Africa or a to-be-established Central American location.
    His ultimate plan, if peace could be negotiated, was to put in place
    a long term program to buy the slaves from their owners, and then
    ship them to the aforementioned locations.

    re .20, re .12..
    
    The first REAL 'Emancipation Proclamation' was issued early in 1861
    by General John C. Fremont.  It promised freedom to all escaped
    and 'liberated' (in war) slaves.  It further offered to arm these
    people and include them in the Federal forces. It was RESCINDED by 
    Lincoln.
    
    Interestingly, Lincoln, long acclaimed as the greatest President
    of the US, was undeniably guilty of FAR more violations of citizen's
    civil rights and violation of the Constitution (suspension of Habeas
    Corpus, closing down newspapers, complete control/monitoring of
    telegraph messages, imprisoning of anyone suspected of 'sedition',
    including the entire Maryland State Legislature, etc), than Richard 
    Nixon, drummed out of office, ever was.
    
    karl

    re: .20 and .21
    
    Next you will be telling us that George Washington cheated on his
    wife. :-)

    No. But I understand he had quite a nice Cherry Wood furniture business
    going during his youth till some personal calamity made him give up
    carpentry and turn to the military.
    

        RE: .22 -- Books don't lie, but sometimes their authors do. If you
        weren't there, you pretty much have to rely on someone's record of
        what happened.  It's not uncommon for different people to have
        different perceptions something that happened, and when it's
        something that happened in the distant past, and none of the
        principals are alive any more, you can get even more distortion.
        This should come as no surprise. 
        
        Tom

.24�< Note 688.24 by DR::BLINN "Life's too short for boring food" >
.24�                       -< Books don't lie,Authors do. >-
    
    Ah! Clever! Obviously a play on words ala "guns don't kill,people
    do" clever!