Honda's having trouble hiring diverse work force in former Sundown Towns
Building an assembly plant in southeastern Indiana is no problem for Honda. But staffing it is another matter.
The Japanese automaker's challenge is hiring a diverse work force in an almost completely white rural area.
Honda wants to attract minority workers to a community known as one of about 10,000 "sundown towns" in the United States. Such towns once warned blacks not to "let the sun go down" on them -- meaning blacks could work but not live there.
The plant, called Honda Manufacturing of Indiana, plans to begin hiring 2,000 workers this fall. The automaker has contacted minority leaders and groups to help it find minority employees within 65 miles of Greensburg. The hiring area includes Marion County, or Indianapolis.
"It's a fine first step, but it doesn't even get them to first base," says James Loewen, the Washington, D.C., author of Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism.
Greensburg is known for the big tree growing out of the top of the Decatur County Courthouse tower, not for its racial diversity. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Greensburg had only eight black residents in 2000, or 0.08 percent. Of the city's 10,260 residents, 97.6 percent were white. Asians made up the city's largest minority group, at 1.4 percent. Greensburg's population today is about 10,500....
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The Japanese automaker's challenge is hiring a diverse work force in an almost completely white rural area.
Honda wants to attract minority workers to a community known as one of about 10,000 "sundown towns" in the United States. Such towns once warned blacks not to "let the sun go down" on them -- meaning blacks could work but not live there.
The plant, called Honda Manufacturing of Indiana, plans to begin hiring 2,000 workers this fall. The automaker has contacted minority leaders and groups to help it find minority employees within 65 miles of Greensburg. The hiring area includes Marion County, or Indianapolis.
"It's a fine first step, but it doesn't even get them to first base," says James Loewen, the Washington, D.C., author of Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism.
Greensburg is known for the big tree growing out of the top of the Decatur County Courthouse tower, not for its racial diversity. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Greensburg had only eight black residents in 2000, or 0.08 percent. Of the city's 10,260 residents, 97.6 percent were white. Asians made up the city's largest minority group, at 1.4 percent. Greensburg's population today is about 10,500....