{"id":2227559,"date":"2024-04-22T18:46:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T22:46:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-administration-declares-that-criminal-background-checks-are-racist-against-black-people\/"},"modified":"2024-04-22T18:52:55","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T22:52:55","slug":"biden-administration-declares-that-criminal-background-checks-are-racist-against-black-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-administration-declares-that-criminal-background-checks-are-racist-against-black-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden Administration: Criminal Background Checks Deemed Racist to Black Individuals"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbiden-administration-declares-that-criminal-background-checks-are-racist-against-black-people%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2227559&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Fortune\u200b 100 companies have all committed to DEI practices openly. This \u200bshift, attributed partly to racial justice\u2063 concerns, has led to a \u2062uniform DEI focus. Recent lawsuits, like the one against Sheetz, highlight how criminal background\u2064 check policies are under scrutiny, raising debates on discrimination vs. safety considerations \u200cin hiring \u2064practices. All Fortune 100 companies have\u2062 openly \u2064embraced DEI practices, primarily driven by \u2064concerns for racial justice. Legal \u2063actions, such as \u2062the Sheetz case, shed light \u200con the\u200c scrutiny surrounding criminal background\u2062 check policies, sparking discussions on the balance between discrimination concerns and safety\u200c protocols in \u200drecruitment processes.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here\u2019s a statistic that, if you have a job in corporate America, may be the single least surprising piece of information you\u2019ll hear all year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It turns out that every single one of the Fortune 100 companies \u2014 100% of them \u2014 has made a public <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hrdive.com\/news\/2022-fortune-companies-dei\/627651\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">commitment<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  to DEI on their website. There isn\u2019t a single outlier in the top 100 companies in this country. Chris Rufo looked into this, and he found that they all have a stock DEI page. Whether you go to Amazon or Target or Dell or Verizon or Home Depot, or banks or insurance companies or anywhere else, you\u2019ll find the same platitudes \u2014 boilerplate about the importance of the alphabet people, parental leave for birthing folks, outreach to historically black colleges, and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This total uniformity took hold relatively quickly, within just the last few years. Publicly, the explanation for this change is that all of these companies are suddenly very concerned about racial justice. They\u2019re upset about George Floyd and so on. But privately, there\u2019s another very clear reason for it. The leadership of all of these companies understand very well that if they stop practicing DEI \u2014 if they, say, start hiring all of their employees based on merit instead of skin color \u2014 then the federal government will try to destroy them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is a dynamic that normally plays out behind the scenes, away from public scrutiny. But this week, in one very dramatic case, it spilled out into the open. The convenience store chain Sheetz, which has more than 700 locations all over the country, was just sued by the Biden administration after they rejected the federal government\u2019s attempt to shake them down with a settlement. What was Sheetz\u2019s crime, you ask? Did they sell bad gasoline? Poisoned hot dogs? Did their name violate communications decency laws?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to the Biden administration, Sheetz broke the law by refusing to hire applicants who failed a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/senate-judiciary-chairman-says-gun-control-is-top-priority\/\" title=\"Senate Judiciary Chairman Says Gun Control Is \u2018Top Priority\u2019\">criminal background check<\/a>. Apparently, the Biden administration believes this is a racist policy because many of the people who fail these background checks are nonwhite. And to be clear, that\u2019s the entire accusation. The Biden administration is not claiming that Sheetz intentionally discriminated against anyone on the basis of race, or any other legally protected characteristic. They\u2019re not claiming that Sheetz used these background checks as part of a racist white supremacist scheme.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/episode\/ep-1352-biden-administration-declares-that-criminal-background-checks-are-racist-against-black-people-member-exclusive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Instead, the Biden administration is using a theory of discrimination known as \u201cdisparate impact,\u201d which was enshrined into civil rights law many years ago. Under this theory, a lack of discriminatory intent doesn\u2019t matter. All the government has to show is that a policy disproportionately affects members of certain racial groups, without a clear business purpose, in a manner that could reasonably be avoided.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In a moment, I\u2019ll get into the lawsuit, and I\u2019ll explain why it\u2019s a complete farce, even if you buy into the whole \u201cdisparate impact\u201d theory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">First, however, I want to contrast two <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/warnock-voter-registration-group-under-investigation-for-election-law-violations\/\" title=\"Warnock Voter-Registration Group Under Investigation for Election Law Violations\">local news reports<\/a> about what\u2019s happening to Sheetz. The first one is from WCNC in Charlotte, North Carolina, and the second one is from CBS 17 in Durham. Watch:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">You\u2019ll notice that the CBS News report doesn\u2019t even mention what Sheetz is accused of doing, really. They don\u2019t talk about the background checks at all. They just lead you to believe that Sheetz is accused of discriminating against \u201cblack, Native American and multiracial\u201d people, with no context whatsoever.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">So maybe you\u2019re starting to see how the shakedown works. The federal government shows up to a major corporation. They accuse them of racism based on no evidence whatsoever. And then they demand millions of dollars, including back pay for a bunch of employees. And if the company doesn\u2019t comply, then the administration sues them, and the media basically accuses the company of racism. This is why many companies choose to head off the whole problem in the first place, by openly discriminating against white people. If you do that, then the Biden administration won\u2019t touch you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Let\u2019s get into the specifics of the case because that\u2019s the only way to truly understand how insane this is.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Within the last few months, a couple of job applicants at Sheetz filed complaints with the E.E.O.C., saying they\u2019ve been discriminated against under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And the E.E.O.C., which is a federal agency, agreed with them. Here\u2019s what the Biden administration wrote in their lawsuit:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">[Sheetz]  committed a continuing, companywide practice in violation of Title VII with respect to a class of Black, American Indian\/Alaska Native, and multiracial job applicants who did not pass [Sheetz\u2019s] criminal justice history screening by failing to hire them for all positions because of race. \u2026 For instance, Black job applicants have failed Defendants\u2019 criminal justice history screening, and consequently are denied employment, at a rate exceeding approximately 14.5%, while White job applicants have failed Defendants\u2019 criminal justice history screening, and consequently are denied employment, at a rate of under approximately 8%.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The complaint notes that the number of Indians and multiracial applicants who are denied on this basis is roughly the same.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A few points here. First, given what we know about black crime rates, these numbers are actually a lot closer than you\u2019d expect. Nationally, according to FBI data, black people <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/oll.libertyfund.org\/publications\/liberty-matters\/2024-02-13-systemic-racism-in-crime-do-blacks-commit-more-crimes-than-whites\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">make up<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  more than 26% of total arrests, and the imprisonment rate for black Americans is over five times the rate for whites. But the Sheetz data only shows a disparity of around 7%. And according to the EEOC, Sheetz is looking at both convictions as well as arrests when it runs its background checks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">More importantly, notice what\u2019s being conflated here. The complaint states that Sheetz is failing to hire these applicants \u201cbecause of race.\u201d But what they\u2019re really saying is that Sheetz isn\u2019t hiring applicants who failed a criminal background check. Any reasonable person can see that those are two very different rationales. And indeed, on its website, the E.E.O.C. makes this distinction clear. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eeoc.gov\/newsroom\/eeoc-sues-sheetz-inc-racially-discriminatory-hiring-practice\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They state:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The lawsuit does not allege that Sheetz was motivated by race when making hiring decisions.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is the sort of madness that the legal theory of \u201cdisparate impact\u201d breeds. The Left knows that it can\u2019t find any examples of actual direct discrimination against black people in this country anymore \u2014 and certainly not at Sheetz. So instead, the Left has invented this notion of disparate impact to create discrimination where it doesn\u2019t really exist. The problem is that literally everything \u2014 every policy, every rule, every standard, in every context \u2014 will have a \u201cdisparate impact.\u201d The impact felt by any individual or group will vary according to their situation. If we cannot have standards that create a disparate impact, then we cannot have any standards at all. Which of course is the point.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/dwapp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Supposedly, there are limits to this legal theory of \u201cdisparate impact.\u201d The DOJ lists these <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/crt\/fcs\/T6Manual7#C\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">exceptions<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  on its website. For example, it\u2019s acceptable to have a policy that yields a \u201cdisparate impact\u201d \u2014 if the policy is \u201cimportant\u201d and justified by the organization\u2019s mission. This is an exception that clearly applies to this situation. There is a blindingly obvious reason why a convenience store wouldn\u2019t want to hire criminals: They don\u2019t want to get robbed. This is a point that should not need any elaboration whatsoever in a sane society.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But we don\u2019t live in a sane society anymore, so I will elaborate. Also, it\u2019s an excuse to show one of the best videos to come out of Georgia this year. This is footage of a robbery at a convenience store that may be the single worst inside job ever recorded on camera. Watch:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt\u2019s unclear if the robber\u2019s fist actually connected to Patel\u2019s face.\u201d That\u2019s the polite way of putting it. It takes the cops a little while but they eventually blew the whole scheme wide open \u2014 mainly because the accomplice was hanging out right outside the store when they arrived, and cash started falling out of his pocket when they questioned him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In any event, the point is that if this clerk applies to Sheetz, they should be able to reject him because of his criminal history. His ethnicity does not matter. The fact he\u2019s a criminal matters. Convenience stores get robbed all the time \u2014 including by their own employees. It\u2019s clearly \u201cimportant\u201d to the business of a convenience store to root out criminals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">I read the entire complaint from the Biden administration, and I couldn\u2019t find a single argument to the contrary. Instead, they fault Sheetz for failing to contact applicants to request additional information after they fail their criminal background checks. The Biden administration doesn\u2019t say what \u201cadditional information\u201d might be relevant, but they say that Sheetz is racist because they don\u2019t request it. Additionally, the Biden administration faults Sheetz for failing to name the \u201cspecific condition\u201d that\u2019s the basis for their decision, when applicants have multiple criminal convictions. And apparently, Sheetz doesn\u2019t have a whole committee making these decisions, nor is there a \u201cprocedure\u201d for appeals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">None of this is remotely relevant to racism, nor does it disprove the obvious fact that hiring criminals is a bad idea for a convenience store. So it doesn\u2019t really address the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jack-smith-asks-court-to-bar-improper-evidence-from-trump-2020-election-trial\/\" title=\"Jack Smith seeks to exclude 'inadmissible evidence' from Trump's 2020 election trial\">relevant legal issues<\/a> in any way.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">You get the sense that Sheetz was stunned by the Biden administration\u2019s claims to the contrary. The federal government\u2019s complaint goes on to state that:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Commission engaged in communications with Defendants to provide Defendants an opportunity to remedy the discriminatory practices. \u2026 [but] the Commission was unable to secure from Defendants a conciliation agreement acceptable to the Commission.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In other words, Sheetz didn\u2019t back down in the face of this blackmail. So now they have a massive lawsuit to deal with, along with defamatory media coverage. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Obviously, this is one of the more egregious examples you\u2019ll ever see of the soft bigotry of low expectations \u2014 or the soft bigotry of no expectations, in this case. If I were black, I would be highly insulted by the idea that a criminal background check presents some kind of insurmountable hurdle for me specifically. It\u2019s a lot like saying black people can\u2019t possibly obtain voter identification, which is another common claim you\u2019ll hear from the Biden administration. What the Left is effectively saying is that there\u2019s simply no chance for black, Indian, or \u201cmultiracial\u201d job applicants to stop committing a disproportionate amount of crimes. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">So, instead of doing anything to get them to commit less crime, we have to pretend that business owners are the real criminals. If they refuse to hire nonwhite applicants for any reason, they\u2019ll get a lawsuit. But of course, they can continue to discriminate against whites all they want.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sheetz seems to understand that. And there are already signs they\u2019re going to cave. In response to this lawsuit, Sheetz issued a statement <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/csnews.com\/sheetz-reaffirms-commitment-di-following-eeoc-lawsuit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">saying:<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Diversity and inclusion are essential parts of who we are \u2026 We take these allegations seriously. We have attempted to work with the EEOC for nearly eight years to find common ground and resolve this dispute.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s not exactly a full-throated defense of their position, which is obviously the correct one. And as their statement notes, this has been going on for a long time \u2014 eight years in fact. So there\u2019s some history here. I looked into it, and it turns out that this isn\u2019t the first time the EEOC has filed a lawsuit like this. Back in 2019, the EEOC under the Trump administration <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eeoc.gov\/newsroom\/dollar-general-pay-6-million-settle-eeoc-class-race-discrimination-suit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">sued<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">  Dollar General for:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2026denying employment to African Americans at a significantly higher rate than white applicants for failing the company\u2019s broad criminal background check.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">What was the result? A $6 million settlement and a three-year consent decree.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to a top EEOC attorney at the time,<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This case is important because Dollar General is not just providing relief for a past practice but for the future as well. \u2026 If the company plans to use criminal history, it must retain a criminologist to develop a fair process. Unlike other background checks based on unproven myths and biases about people with criminal backgrounds, Dollar General\u2019s new approach will be informed by experts with knowledge of actual risk.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It\u2019s hard to believe it\u2019s a real quote. They\u2019re saying it\u2019s an \u201cunproven myth and bias\u201d to believe that someone with a previous history of criminal behavior is more likely to commit other crimes in the future. You don\u2019t need any statistics to know how absurd that is. You just need common sense. But here are the statistics anyway. According to the DOJ\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cops.usdoj.gov\/html\/dispatch\/04-2022\/reintegration_resources.html#:~:text=State%20prisoner%20recidivism%20rates%20average,Durose%2C%20and%20Markman%202018).\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">own numbers:<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2026 at least half of citizens released from incarceration will recidivate in some way following release. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">And according to other <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.prisonpolicy.org\/reports\/repeatarrests.html#:~:text=Our%20analysis%20finds%20that%2027,to%20jail%20within%20a%20year.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">estimates<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, including a survey from Prison Policy, roughly a third of people who are arrested report that they\u2019re re-arrested for another offense within a year. There are about a million other data points you can find. But suffice it to say, it\u2019s not a \u201cmyth\u201d that criminals are more likely to reoffend. It\u2019s an extremely basic and obvious fact. And yet the EEOC pretended it\u2019s not real. Now Dollar General needs an \u201cexpert\u201d to tell them they\u2019re being racist if they reject a black guy with five prior convictions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How did that go completely unnoticed at the time? Why didn\u2019t the Trump White House override what the EEOC was doing and fire everyone involved? Who knows. The most likely answer is that the White House wasn\u2019t aware of it. And if that\u2019s the case, it\u2019s hard to think of a better argument that the federal government needs to be cut in half immediately, for starters, and most of these unelected bureaucrats need to find new jobs. They have gone rogue and they\u2019re implementing policies that defy all logic, and they should be fired en masse.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">That should be the first executive order if, in fact, there is a second Trump administration. With the Sheetz case, the Biden administration is trying to shake down yet another company in order to erase the distinction between criminals and noncriminals. This is economic sabotage. And it simply can\u2019t be allowed to succeed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In corporate America, it&#8217;s no surprise that all Fortune 100 companies have publicly committed to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) on their websites. This statistic comes as expected for those working in these corporate environments<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":305,"featured_media":2227560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-1419934098.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2227559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-1419934098.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/305"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2227559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2227560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2227559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2227559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2227559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}