SHOWING A LEVEL OF INSENSITIVITY ABOUT RACIAL ISSUES

There is something disturbing when an agency claiming to be concerned with the safety of children is tone deaf to employee concerns about racial issues. Ergo, I must say that Connecticut Juvenille Training School and Department of Children and Families are showing a level of insensitivity about racial issues when voiced by employees of color. Let me be clear. At CJTS for about 4 years a cadre of employees of color have approached management about blatant issues of racial bias at that facility. When racial subjects are broached management acquires a stoic demeanor; eyes narrow, lips are pursed and a cold air permeates the room. Since I have worked at CJTS for 5 years there is always a circle the wagons mentality by management about addressing racial issues. Oh, there have been a couple of mock Courageous Conversations to discuss race-but this amounts to nothing other than a three ring circus. What is really frightening is how dismissive management is about listening to racial issues. And I might add that what occurs at CJTS is a microcosm of what ensues in American society. The majority of citizens in America do not want to discuss race. Many people feel as if people of color have made progress in society (especiall blacks). Just watch the reactions or listen to the rhetoric when the issue of race comes up. Now juxtapose that image in America with what is happening at CJTS. There is something fundementally flawed with DCF/CJTS when their employees feel the need to 1. launch a classaction lawsuit about racism-bias, 2. protest outside DCF facilities, 3. go on a hunger strike about CJTS racism, 4. and establish a website called DCFPlantation to highlight racial injustices.

 How dumb can DCF/CJTS management be to ignores clear warning signs something is wrong? Maybe this is not about management being dumb but exhibiting hubris ( excessive zeal or confidence). And let us not forget the mantra of management "there are only a few people making these claims." Now to be honest there are a few people making noise publiclly, but God knows in the underbrush alot of people are commenting on the down low that DCF/CJTS are insensivity to concerns about racial issues from employees of color.

THE LESSONS OF SILENCE AND PASSIVITY

 In the annals of recorded history one reads how silence and passivity can have a negative effect on a group or society. In France silence and passivity allowed the ancien regime ( the political and social system prior to the Revolution of 1789) to abuse common people. However, what is to be learned from the ancien regime is that people were taught to cower before authority. By way of contrast the silence and passivity among white Americans and black slaves allowed a system of unspeakable horror to enslave African-Americans for hundreds of years legally and then establish de facto slavery. Let us not fail to remember how silence and passivity played a large part in how Turks commited genocide on Armenians in the eariler part of the 20th century.
Yet the lessons of silence and passivity historically are lost on employees of Department of Children and Families and Connecticut Juvenile training School. I mention this due to the fact of how employees are disproportionally disciplined for offenses and whites are given a pass. Yet, perhaps the onus for these atrocities within the DCF Plantation can be laid at the feet of a squeamish employee base ( whites and blacks)  who remain quiet or look away at injustices. In France before the Revolution of 1789 aristocrats mistreated common people routinely; many aristocrats felt entitled to their excesses. All citizens were cowed in France-then a great uprising happened. At CJTS employees for years were conditioned to accepting management's unfair decisions; like cattle these so called adults take draconian discipline by justifying it "hell, least I have a job." During a five year period at CJTS /DCF the employees began to complain about unfair treatment; management singled out a so called few malcontents ( main one being a CJTS employee named Cornell Lewis) for retribution. These reprisals were meant to convey a message to employees of color especially -get your butts back in the ideological / economic cage we placed you in. At this juncture in spite of a class action lawsuit filed by CJTS employees ( DCF Plantation 5), a hunger strike by Cornell Lewis, protests outside DCF headquarters in Hartford and CJTS facility in Middletown, Connecticut--- silence and passivity are firmly entrenched. The black employees are afraid to even think about challenging ol' master at CJTS. Meanwhile back at the ranch CJTS management have launched a new tactic, trying to project an aura of calm by keeping incidents to a minimum. By the appearance of tranquility at CJTS perhaps a larger society can be deceived.

THINGS ON THE PLANTATION HAVE NOT CHANGED: PEOPLE OF COLOR LOW ON THE TOTEM POLE

I have been talking so long about discrimination and hiring practices that keep minorities in low paying positions within Department of Children and Families / Connecticut Juvenile Training School. Lets examine if things changed since the administration came in to power. Since the new DCF administration came into power in 2011 there has been only four blackmen hired, 2 of them are Youth Services Officers at CJTS. One of these hires in an office assistant, the last one is a Child Service Worker. For some strange reason DCF has only hired three Hispanic males, one is in the CJTS Barber Shop, one is a custodian, and one is a Social Worker. My point is that black and Hispanic males within DCF/CJTS are relegated to lowest possible jobs on the plantation. Let me be clear. White adminstrators on the plantation will hire a barber for $15,000 thousand dollars a year and point to that as diversity. While on the DCF Plantation the CJTS top administrator William Rosenbeck is paid over $110,000 yearly or 7 times as much as the the Hispanic cutting hair. Is there something wrong with this DCF/CJTS picture? Things on the DCF Plantation have not changed in reality. People of color are still on low on the totem pole, whether economic or disciplinary actions. Look at the graph below; where is equality, diversity in this era of enlightenment since a new DCF administration came to power in 2011.

There are only two places where minorities are in the majority at CJTS. When it comes to employment the Custody Department shows that there are 107 employees who are minority, and only 41 are White. The other place are those residents under CJTS custody, where a majority of them are Black or Hispanic.

IS THERE A COVER UP AT CJTS?

The Freedom of Information request for telephone calls on state cell, text messages and internet use from a Connecticut Juvenile Training School administrator has not been honored. A DCFPlantation FOI request is focusing on whether a top CJTS employee is abusing state equipment. The first time such a request was made, DCF officials sent a reply back that sounded like MSNBC commentary trying to cover the official. It was told to this blog that just because a person goes to a website is not reflective of actual use. What you say? Well it is evident that the delay in providing FOI documents in this instance might be an attempt to frustrate or delay. DCF did send over from another source a few documents about this CJTS official's website use; but the main items still have not come through. Now the DCFPlantation blog is left with no choice but to file a complaint with the Freedom of Information Commission, because of the delay in providing public documents. The public has a right to documents through FOI if available; in this case the hesitation in giving up that CJTS top administrator state cell calls, text messages and internet use makes a person wonder if something is being hidden.