Health Care System Fires White Man and Makes Room for Diversity Hires, But He Takes His Case to Court and Walks Away a Millionaire
When conservatives protest over ideas like “equity” and “critical race theory,” the average American who is uninterested in politics is left wondering what all the fuss is about.
To them, broad academic concepts like these couldn’t possibly affect their day-to-day lives.
A federal jury in Charlotte, North Carolina, seemed to disagree with that notion on Tuesday, however, when it awarded one man $10 million dollars due to discrimination via his former employer’s equity policy.
Michigan native David Duvall worked as the senior vice president of marketing and communication for Novant Health Inc., a health care system with facilities in North Carolina, up until July of 2018, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.
In a 2019 lawsuit against the company, Duvall alleged he was fired without warning and replaced by a white woman and a black woman as the company worked to institute “diversity, inclusion and equity” policies. Duvall accused Novant Health of racial and gender discrimination, a violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Novant Health contested Duvall’s claims, instead saying he was fired for his “poor leadership skills.” In addition to finding Duvall proved he was wrongfully terminated based on his race and gender, the jury also said Novant Health failed to prove it would have fired Duvall if race was not a factor.
Both Duvall and his lawyer were more than happy with the North Carolina jury’s determination.
“We are pleased that the jury agreed that Duvall’s race and gender were unlawful factors in his termination — that he was fired to make room for more diverse leaders at Novant,” Duvall’s attorney, S. Luke Largess, said in a statement released on Tuesday, according to the Winston-Salem Journal.
Largess also noted Duvall was “a strong advocate of diversity at Norvant” and that the two believe the lawsuit “is a message that an employer cannot terminate and replace employees in order to achieve greater diversity in the workforce.”
A federal jury awarded a former Novant Health executive $10 million in damages after he claimed in a lawsuit that he was fired because he’s a white man. https://t.co/cwRRb6mb4i
— WBTV News (@WBTV_News) October 27, 2021
“We are extremely disappointed with the verdict as we believe it is not supported by the evidence presented at trial, which includes our reason for Mr. Duvall’s termination,” Megan Rivers, a Novant Health spokeswoman, said. “We will pursue all legal options, including appeal, over the next several weeks and months
The jury, however, remained unconvinced and chose to award Duvall a whopping $10 million.
Despite this ruling, Novant Health has stubbornly doubled down on its racist practices, noting that racial equity will remain a central component of its hiring processes going forward.
“Novant Health is one of thousands of organizations to put in place robust diversity and inclusion programs, which we believe can co-exist alongside strong non-discriminatory policies that extend to all races and genders, including white men,” Rivers said. “It’s important for all current and future team members to know that this verdict will not change Novant Health’s steadfast commitment to diversity, inclusion and equity for all.”
“Equity” is perhaps the most pernicious form of racism seen in American society today. Rather than ensure that all people are treated equally, regardless of their race or ethnicity, “equity” ensures people are treated differently according to their race.
The reason left-wing organizations continue to push this notion is because of the false belief that, if not for “racism,” all racial groups would have the exact same amount of representation in every aspect of society.
But such an assumption assumes all groups are exactly the same. No person in their right mind would suggest that people who are white, black, Hispanic, Asian, Jewish and so on are culturally homogenous.
If they were, what would be the point of celebrating “diversity”?
Moreover, since all of those groups do exhibit cultural differences, they are likely to experience different economic outcomes.
And that isn’t because of racism. Otherwise, as political scientist Wilfred Reilly has explained, the wealthiest racial groups of Americans would not be Indian Americans and Asian Americans.
“The wealthiest group of Americans is not Anglo-Saxon ‘WASPs’ — or Jews as is often claimed — but Indian Americans, with a median household income of $135,816. Taiwanese Americans come in second place, at $102,405,” Reilly wrote.
“All in all, seven of the 10 highest-earning groups — Indians, Taiwanese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Pakistanis, Iranians and Lebanese Americans — are not ‘white’ as this term is generally conceptualised. Another Top 10 group — South Africans, with $98,212 — consists of white and black immigrants, who both seem to do quite well away from their homeland’s quarrels.”
Nevertheless, companies like Novant Health will continue to judge applicants based on their gender and the color of their skin, rather than judge them based on their competency, keeping racism and discrimination on life-support at a time when most of the country is ready to move past such bigotry.
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