HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – Attorney General Daniel Cameron released an Opinion concerning an Executive Branch training program called the “Governor’s Minority Management Training Program.”
Cameron’s office says the Opinion concludes that this program, created in 1995, violates both the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Kentucky Civil Rights Act. According to a news release, the mission of the program is to “develop exceptional [state government] leaders by providing opportunities to continually learn, improve performance and excel in their department/agency.”
But it is not open to all state employees, his office says.
According to Cameron’s office, only employees who belong to “an ethnic minority” are eligible—that is, those who are “Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native, [or] Two or More Races.” Consequently excluding many Kentuckians due solely to their race.
Officials say the Opinion highlights the United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in Students for Fair Admissions, in which the Court explained that “[e]liminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it.” And neither state nor federal law provides an exception for race-based initiatives like the Governor’s Minority Management Training Program.
The news release says the Opinion goes on to state that because the program premises participation on the basis of race, it necessarily treats people differently because of their race. Officials say, moreover, the nature of this initiative—training employees to help them advance and perform well in the Executive Branch—means that those who cannot participate are at a disadvantage.
Cameron concludes the Opinion by emphasizing that the Commonwealth has both a moral and statutory obligation to prevent racial discrimination. But, the Opinion says, “we cannot meet this obligation while tolerating programs within state government itself—like the Governor’s Minority Management Trainee Program—that discriminate on the basis of race.”
The full Opinion can be viewed below.
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