Font ResizeLAS CRUCES - City Manager Robert Garza was a bit surprised when the statistic was presented to him.
Four of Las Cruces' last five city managers have been people of color, or minorities.
"I didn't realize that," said Garza, after a brief pause to digest that fact. "Wow, that's pretty interesting."
Just as affected was Mesilla Mayor Nora Barraza when it sunk in that 22 of the town's 38 full- and part-time employees are people of color.
"That's really interesting. I wouldn't have known right off hand it was that many," Barraza said.
While building ethnic and cultural diversity is clearly an important goal just as it was for national civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Garza and Barraza agree that when it comes to hiring municipal government employees, being color blind is probably the best philosophy.
"I believe the city has made some strides in hiring people based on their qualifications rather than their ethnicity or cultural background," said Garza, whose predecessor was black. "I know I would rather look at qualifications and competence rather than just (racial) class."
City Human Resources Director Andre Moquin said the city currently has about 29 black employees who work in 22 different positions. Four of those positions, codes enforcement officer, police sergeant, detective and senior officer, are with the Las Cruces Police Department, and two are with the Las Cruces Fire Department.
"This may not be a complete list as certain employees
But Garza and Moquin readily agreed that most city employees are minorities. According to the most recent U.S. Census estimates, 67.1 percent of the city's approximate population, and 56.2 percent of Mesilla's estimated population, consists of Hispanics, blacks, American Indians, or other minority races.
Interestingly, census data shows there are no blacks living in Mesilla, and there are none employed by the town. But 57.8 percent of town employees are people of color, compared to the 56.2 percent of Mesilla's estimated population of minority residents.
By comparison, census figures estimate there are slightly more than 2,000 blacks living in Las Cruces, which accounts for 2.3 percent of city residents. That relation appears to closely mirror the approximately 2 percent of city government employees who are black.
"Those numbers confirm what we've known, which is that the percentage of African-Americans living throughout the region is relatively low," said Johnny Pippen, acting EEO chief officer at WSMR. "Because of where we are, the numbers and percentages are rather small."
Pippen said 100 black employees work for Army civil service at White Sands, which accounts for 5 percent of that workforce. Those numbers do not include people who work for government contractors, active-duty military personnel, or other military branches and tenants at WSMR.
But Las Crucen Sam Bone, state president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said while there have been improvements and better treatment of blacks in Las Cruces in the more than 50 years he has lived in the city, he underscored the number of blacks working for the city could be greater.
"It should be higher," Bone said. "We (the state chapter of the NAACP) are projecting that the population of African-Americans living in Las Cruces is probably going to be 3 to 4 percent when the (2010) census is released. It really could be better."
Data from the 2010 census is anticipated to be released in April.
Bone, who came to Las Cruces in 1958 after accepting a job at WSMR, said he moved to the city after being actively recruited by WSMR as he was about to graduate with a degree in engineering from Tennessee State University.
"From the NAACP's perspective, when jobs become vacant we want to know if they are looking at African-American applicants," Bone said.
Bone recalled discriminatory practices against blacks throughout the years, and Las Cruces and southern New Mexico was no exception. During the 1960s, he remembers several instances where he and other blacks had difficulties trying to rent apartments or purchase and build homes in the city.
"We've had our battles here in the '60s," Bone said. "I remember a time when New Mexico promoted itself as a tri-cultural state. That had nothing to do with African-Americans, it was only meant for Anglos, Hispanics and Native Americans."
Bone said the promotion of racial harmony still remains the goal toward achieving equality.
"I still hope the time comes when we can all sit down to talk and understand that we all have to live together," Bone said. "I remember something Dr. King once said, something to the effect that unless we all learn to live together as brothers and sisters we're going to die together as fools."
Steve Ramirez can be reached at (575) 541-5452
Color blind
•The city of Las Cruces has about 29 blacks working in city government.
•There are 100 black Army civil service employees at White Sands Missile Range, consisting of about 5 percent of that specific work force.
•Most of the employees working for the city or WSMR are minorities, or people of color.
•The town of Mesilla has no black employees, but 22 of the town's 38 full- and part-time employees are minorities.
•According to the 2000 U.S. Census, 2.3 percent of the Las Cruces population was black.
•Projections indicate the percentage of blacks living in Las Cruces when the 2010 Census is released could increase to 3 or 4 percent.
