From the Ann Arbor Independent:
Washtenaw County recently hired former Sheriff’s Dept. employee Derrick Jackson as the County’s Racial Equity Officer. He began the job on Dec. 16. Jackson’s hire is proof positive that cronyism is still a very serious problem in the County. Jackson’s hire comes at the expense of equity, inclusion and equality in Washtenaw County. Derrick Jackson has no experience leading any racial equity program or office. He has no education or degree related to DEI leadership. While working in the Sheriff’s Dept., in 2019 he had a hand in the hire of a Sheriff’s Deputy the subject of not one but two investigations as an alleged serial rapist. According to a source in the Sheriff’s Dept., Jackson was apprised of the investigations and nonetheless justified the hire of D’Angelo McWilliams as a “diversity hire.” McWilliams is currently on trial and faces eight charges that include criminal sexual conduct in the first degree.
Read the full editorial here.
While we disagree with the Ann Arbor Independent’s assertion that “diversity and inclusion [programs] are critical to socio-economic equity,” we agree with their conclusion that “the County Commissioners’ hire of unqualified, dishonest and duplicitous Derrick Jackson is not only a slap in the face to county residents who support improving equity and inclusion, but also to those county residents in desperate need of improved equity and inclusion. It’s evidence that the County Commissioners care more about cronyism than improving the lives of county residents through a bona fide racial equity program with measurable diversity, equity and inclusion goals.”
