Bill Hough

As a federal grant recipient, Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) is committed to ensuring nondiscriminatory access to its services and to promote and engage the participation of all people regardless of race, color, or national origin in accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of I 964.Recently, an employee posted a link in VTA’s internal Microsoft Teams “Planning & Programming” group announcing a meeting promoted by the Director, Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE), Race Forward.

They said, “The Executive Order 13985 on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities through the Federal Government restored the hope we lost following the historic January 6th insurrection. Now, the opposition has turned its attention to the local level, unloading widespread attacks on race, gender, and culture within school curriculums, and leveraging fear tactics to replace progressive local leaders with more conservative ones.”

VTA is becoming a hostile workplace, in violation of Title VI and VTA policy AS-HR-PL-2580 prohibiting discrimination “on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, income level, and Limited English Proficiency” and policy BSD-2120 prohibiting “discrimination or harassment based on genetic information, gender expression, gender identity, political beliefs, and organizational affiliation.”