Leading the speakers at the Diversity and Inclusion Summit in Sioux Falls Thursday is Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Jason Ball. The big-city Chamber chief made the following comments about the need for creating inclusive communities last week on KELO-TV:
“We want to be the hub where people feel like they can come and get connected,” Ball said.
For that to happen, Ball says we must value diversity. That is why the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce is trying to help the city become a more inclusive and welcoming place.
“We’ve expanded that when it comes to a workforce dialogue to include new Americans, other new demographic groups, religious groups, gender and LGBT types of issues,” Ball said.
Ball says promoting diversity is important to attracting new businesses and new workers to the state [Brady Mallory, “Chamber President Promotes Diversity, Has Message for Lawmakers,” KELO-TV, 2017.10.26].
Ball also repeats the Chamber’s warning to legislators who may be lured down Senator Neal Tapio’s ugly path of fearmongering and xenophobia:
“As we head into this session, I’d just like to share the Chamber is watching a lot of these bills and policy proposals,” Ball said.
Ball warns any laws that may target a specific group based on race, socio-economic class, or sexual orientation could hurt South Dakota’s image, chances for new jobs, and ultimately, local economies.
“We’re going to be a vocal advocate for what it takes to move this economy forward and continue to grow this community,” Ball said [Mallory, 2017.10.26].
I’m glad to see the Sioux Falls Chamber’s September statement on workforce development and inclusivity wasn’t just a one-off media moment but appears to be part of what Ball describes to Mallory as a “long-term strategic goal.” I hope Chamber members around the state will recognize that promoting that goal may also oblige them to back candidates of the party that will not countenance such economically and morally harmful xenophobic behavior.
Odd that there are few comments on this.
I commend Jason Ball and the Sioux falls Chamber.
How about this?
“We’ve expanded that when it comes to a workforce dialogue to include new Americans, other new demographic groups such as the islamist who killed 8 people by mowing them over with a truck in New York, religious groups such as the islamist that killed 8 people in New York, gender and LGBT types of issues,” Ball said.
Better?
Another “diverse” person allowed in the United States mowed over and killed 8 people in New York.
Sure, OldSarg. We should also figure out when the Las Vegas shooter’s family immigrated here and where from deport all of his relatives. We should deport the five guys up on sexual assault charges in Britton (three look Hispanic, two white) and shut our borders to people from their countries of origin. We should also deport Arnold Schwarzenegger and all Austrians for promoting a culture of guns and violence.
Adopt OldSarg’s policy of deporting people of any race or religion from which one member commits a heinous crime, and we’re gonna run out of Americans pretty soon with that kind of thinking, which really achieves ISIS’s goals far better than any lone gunman or truckman.
Adopt Ball’s policy, and we keep South Dakota’s and America’s economy growing the same way we have since our Founding Immigrants.
OldSarg, How about this?
We’ll constrain our workforce to only “true Americans” that were born and raised here like the Las Vegas shooter, Timothy McVeigh, the Columbine killers, the Sandy Hook shooter, and Dylan Roof. That should solve all our problems.
Cory beat me to the punch. :-(
Picture it, Darin: you and I at keyboards 200 miles away, translating the same neural firings into the same patterns on keyboards. Crazy! We’re next on the deportation list, for offering thoughts that diverge from Trump’s and Old Sarg’s.
Cory, that is a little scary that the two of us were having similar thoughts at nearly the same time! :-)
PS. It almost makes you wonder if there is a higher power in the world working through people for the betterment of humanity. Nah, couldn’t be.
Even scarier is the fact that lots of Americans like OldSarg are sitting at computers right now typing the same kind of anti-Muslim, anti-Mexican, anti-any-non-Christian/non-white hate speech that Putin-backed Russian troll farms are generating to tear this country apart.
The simple fact is: had Sayfullo Saipov never entered the United States 20 people would not have been mowed down and the 23 unknowns he was able to “vouch: into the United States would not be here either. The guy had no trade, very little education, took a civil person’s job and the only thing he every contributed to this society was mayhem and you two neural sharing brainiacs are defending him.
I can just imagine the two of you together: Darin: “Are you pondering what I’m pondering?” Cory: “Yes Darin, but if we didn’t have ears, we’d look like weasels.”
No one could have knows that this turd was a maniac anymore so than the calm gent who just killed three for the hell of it in Thornton, Colorado. Or the dude did in Las Vegas. Do we really know that either of them did not have wishes of Isis, nope, they did not leave a note for one thing.
The lottery system that he entered on had been problematic for years. President Obama and the senate did everything possible to eliminate it. The republican senate with complete support of both parties, voted to eliminate it. Then it went to NOem house of horrors where Paul Ryan refused to put it on the floor for a vote. Once again, congress should do its complete job to stop that lottery. I shall look to NOem to put it back into the house for a vote and force Speaker Paul Ryan to act on it.
Want to help ISIS kill Americans, donate to the wingnut party. Pretty soon no food for the poors and no insurance for the sick. Millions die and it will all be legal.
OldGlory is salivating already.
Mike~ You’re such a brave, wise person. Your post always contribute so much and bring us all back to reality. I just wish I had a third character to add to Pinky and the Brain I’d add you right in.
Don’t strain yerself, OldGrunt. You have hate enough. And that is the gospel. BTW, what part of my last post is untrue?
Untrue?
1. “help ISIS kill Americans, donate to the wingnut party”
2. “Pretty soon no food for the poors”
3. “no insurance for the sick”
4. “Millions die and it will all be legal”
That’s about it. . .
Oh, “Poor” is already plural.
What was untrue? They have already taken billions in food stamps away from the needy. True. They take school lunches away from low income students. True.
They throw sick and elderly off insurance and those people die. Also true.
ISIS wants to kill decadent Americans. Wingnuts want to kill Americans to make the koch bros more decadent. True and true.
Poors, poors, poors, poors poors, poors, poors, poors, poors, poors, etc.
The sad fact is if Paddock hadn’t been allowed to buy 23 or 30 guns in a month, over 500 American citizens would not have been shot and nearly 50 of them killed.
Had suppressors and large capacity clips not been available those same people might all be alive today. But we can’t talk about gun control because mass murders are too soon for that dialog and besides, wingnuts are scared to death to be primaried by an irate NRA and its millions of dollars. Cry me a freakin’ river, OldSon!
“They have already taken billions in food stamps away from the needy” give us a link to this “supposed” fact. . . Yawn. . .
“They throw sick and elderly off insurance” give us a link to this “supposed” fact. . . Yawn. . .Yawn. . .
“Wingnuts want to kill Americans to make the koch bros more decadent” give us a link to this “supposed” fact. . . Yawn. . .Yawn. . .Yawn
Mike, don’t post anymore. Push the keyboard away and put your finger back in your nose where you do less harm to your greatly diminished reputation.
‘smatter, old gloried grunt, the brave ole’ iowa farmer kicking you around, semantically? I mentioned earlier you must be a troll. Others seem to think so too. got any thoughts of your own? mfi has been here several years and is almost never wrong. a true American–an independent thinker. No bah-bah here.
other Republicans have left the site because they couldn’t seem to face unvarnished mayhem descriptors of what their party has been responsible for. guys like you, full of rage and misinformed, are dangerous
Go find yer own links, yawnnnnnn. New budget gives a good look at what wingnut proirities are and feeding the poors and protecting people’s health are among them. They want hundreds of billions in Medicaid cuts to pay for the tax giveaways to the wealthy.
Deny it all you want. It is all true and wingnuts have tried every year for the last 20 to stop feeding the hungry and taking care of the poors. Your kind of monsters, Old Whatever the hell you are.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/5/22/15676490/trump-budget-2018-explained
Leslie, others leave the site because they tire of you’re bigots who refuse to see the truth and they are right. My party is neither republican or democrat. My party is America and guess what? America is winning. It was you that brought us Trump. He wasn’t my pick but the people saw him as a better choice than the criminal you all “pre”-picked in a process that involved more criminal actions than democracy. Every day there is another headline coming out how the democrats (and mousey republicans) sold out America for a few pieces of gold. Yesterday it came out from Donna Brazile Hillary had the fix in before the last year of the campaign and you all followed along like sheep. This is why you lost. At this point it would be better if you just accepted the loss and crawl back under your rock. The wave to overturning the criminals you all put in government is building. The majority of people no longer trust the government you helped put in place. This is all on you and your ilk. It isn’t me. I’m just one of the last voices here on this site letting you know. This is why you hate me. I feel like the babysitter having to tell the kid it’s time to go to bed. It is now time for youth call it quits and take stupid mike-from-Idiocy to bed with you.
America is not winning when it abandons its principles of liberty, justice, and opportunity for all.
OldSarg’s position appears to be that if one person of a different race, nationality, religion, or other recognized class commits a heinous crime, we may dismiss the pluribus and celebrate a white-supremacist unum.
OldSarg also seems to be forgetting that Trump has brought all sorts of criminals to government. Stay tuned for more indictments from the special prosecutor.
Most importatnly, OldSarg wants us to forget that he has no rebuttal to the original thesis of this post, the position that the reasonably conservative folks at the Chamber of Commerce are taking, that South Dakota needs workers from all over the place to fill its economic needs and thus cannot afford to promote prejudice, white supremacy, or any other such anti-inclusive attitudes.
OldSmoke’s eyes are brown. He is full of ##it. Stacy Dash in drag.