Slowly Building Diversity In Construction Labor Force

Smoothing over such situations is the bread and butter of Brown's job.

Gladstone said he has told all supervisors that "if any one of these [black] gentlemen is not measuring up to Miller & Long standards, they are not to be terminated until Kyle intervenes to find out if there is some other issue behind it that we're not aware of. . . . We want to make sure we give these guys every possible opportunity." But Brown said he must also take pains not to alienate the company's Latino workers.

Brown found Smith's crew on lunch break. The foreman and the rest of the men were chatting and joking in a circle. Smith sat alone.

"¡Hola, primos!" -- Hello, cousins! -- boomed Brown to the Latino workers before walking over to Smith and asking what the trouble was.

Smith's voice nearly choked: The rain incident was the last straw. Whenever he tried to talk to one of the handful of black workers employed on other areas of the site, Cristobal Parada, the foreman, would scold him for slacking off. And the men on his otherwise all-Latino crew didn't lend him a hand.

"I'm getting so tired of it," he said. "I'm the only black brother down here."

Brown nodded sympathetically. But when he called over Parada, he was irritated to learn that Parada had ordered Smith only to carry the debris to the dumpster -- not to stay in the rain and break it down.

"Why would you keep working in the rain like that?" Brown asked Smith. "And Mike, if you ever need help, ask the man for help!"

But Brown had tough words for Parada, too. "Listen, please," he said, holding up his hand as Parada started to complain about Smith's work ethic. "I'm trying to teach you how a man feels. There's nothing worse than being the only one. You've never experienced that. You've always got your Latino brothers working with you. . . . This is why you've got to reach out and be more patient."

"Ask anyone how hard I work," said Parada, a burly man of 39. "I do what my bosses tell me to do. I got a lot of pressure."

"I understand that," Brown said. "But you're in a position where you've got to handle the pressure. . . . Mike is a good dude. He knows how to work. I'm not saying you got to kiss his [expletive]. All you got to do is treat him like a man."

Then Brown addressed both men: "Look, we've got to be a family. These are hard times. When hard times happen, a family needs to come together."

He asked them to shake. They did, grudgingly.

"And don't sit yourself by yourself at lunch," Brown told Smith.

"I don't understand what they're saying," Smith muttered.

"Well, when they start speaking in Spanish, you just tell them, 'I'm here now; you got to speak a little English.' Don't separate yourself."

Then Brown turned to Parada. "And don't let a man be alone. Go bring him some Spanish food to taste," he said, punching Parada amiably in the shoulder. "You know, some of them beans or something."

Parada chuckled. Smith gave a half smile.