In 2024 we live in world that favors diversity, that believes in equal rights for all people and equal opportunity.

White males are sometimes not the best people for particular jobs. It depends on the needs of the employer. Interview committees might see a woman or someone of color as an opportunity to add diversity to their workplace.

If someone is far and away the best candidate, white male or not, he or she should be offered the job. Hiring processes usually don’t happen that way. Most of the time finalists are comparable. Usually all are capable of doing the job.

It becomes a judgment call based largely on the interview process. It depends on who the committee feels most comfortable about.

I interviewed for three different jobs in my career which led to the hiring of a female or minority applicant. They were all good employers. I never even remotely thought about reverse discrimination.

Instead I thought the interview processes were fair. All three interviews were congenial. I fully understood the qualifications of the those who were chosen.

I must have impressed at least one of the three, because I later applied for a grant funded position and was hired. The grant lasted only a year, but the job was worth having because of the experiences. It added to my skills and my work background.

I always felt that if I wasn’t the employer’s first choice it was better that I didn’t get the job. They needed to truly want me before I accepted a position.

Diversity leads to a variety of perspectives. Most public and private employers believe that it’s good if men and women work side by side. They think it’s a positive thing to have racial diversity, a variety of ethnic groups and different age groups.

It could easily expand the customer base or the service potential. If everyone is a white male over 40, they might not fully appreciate the needs of women, minority groups and young people.

This summer and this fall are ideal times to think about the impact of the diversity trend, how far it can reach into various sectors of society.

We have a presidential race involving a woman of color and an older white male. Trump passed up the chance to diversify his ticket when he chose J.D. Vance as his running mate. It’s an all-male, all-white and all-conservative combination.

It will all come down to the moderate swing voters. If they aren’t totally sure how to vote, they might be like some of the many interview committees who’ve sided with diversity.

Race shouldn’t be the only factor. It should also come down to the issues and to each person’s service record. Trump should be held accountable for his phone call about Ukraine, his false claims of 2020 election fraud and for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol. He should have told the angry crowd to go home, to let Congress do its job.

Harris will need to defend the Biden administration while still making it clear that she’s a vibrant candidate in her own right. With skillful campaigning she and a running mate could make the election a referendum on Make America Great Again rather than on Biden.

If she succeeds with that, she has a excellent chance of winning. Even Ronald Reagan would have disagreed with MAGA’s message, at least with its basic premise.

Reagan would have said that there’s no need to make America great again. He’d have maintained that we’re already a great country. He’d have said we’ve always been great.

No matter who becomes president, it’s important to consider the value of diversity, the idea that anyone can become the nation’s leader regardless of race, religion or gender.

For most of America’s history, it would have been considered very far fetched to have a woman of color run for president. It was only during the 1960s that they began to have a voice. Rosa Parks in the 1950s Alabama bus controversy was one of the first examples.

We need to respect each other. We also need to choose leaders who will represent everybody; not just the like minded people, not just their own ethnic group. We’re different and diverse, but that doesn’t have to stop us from being a unified nation.

— Jim Muchlinski is a longtime reporter and

contributor to the Marshall Independent