2022 RETA Breeze March-April

HELLO RETA FAMILY, My name is Ken Williams, I was the historian for RETA for a few years. I was a RETA board member in the late 80’s and became president in the 90’s. The last few years of the pandemic and civil unrest made me take an in-depth look at our society and the groups and people I’ve been involved with during my life. The reason I did so was after having discussions with friends, associates, my children, and my grandchildren I realized that in my mind our society has not progressed as far as some people believe. During these discussions I told my children that people form their opinions over the years by their interactions in life. We also form our biases during these interactions, and everyone has their own set of biases whether we admit it or not. After thinking about what I had conveyed to the people I knew, I had to write this article not to blame anyone, but to hope it will make you think about what I have written. Now that I have set the stage, let me present a few facts for your consideration. A few years ago one of the members and business associates of mine presented me

with a booklet. It was the National Association Practical Refrigerating

recruit or nominate others to join Committees and the Board are mostly Caucasian. The information I have put in this article is not designed to anger anyone, it is simply written in the hope that everyone will think about this and maybe some creative dialogue can begin. I hope this will also lead to more people of color getting involved in the governing body of RETA and in the refrigeration industry at-large. Please understand I am not upset with RETA but I do think it is time for me to hopefully help to start this dialogue.

Engineers (NAPRE) data book. This data book was for the members of NAPRE and in the book were tables, definitions for terms used in the industry, and information for NAPRE membership in general. The reason he felt I should view the booklet was because of a very interesting statement in the booklet on membership eligibility which he wanted me to see. That statement was “any white refrigeration engineer who has one or more years’ experience in an ice-making or refrigerating plant, and who is of good moral character is eligible to active membership.” After reading the booklet I spoke with my friend, and we discussed how far RETA had come in regard to this standpoint. He felt this was something I would be interested in since I had been on the RETA National Board of Directors and had progressed through the Chairs. Now while it’s true that RETA ‘s bylaws currently allow anyone for receive a membership regardless of race or gender, I would submit to you that there are biases which I don’t think most of our members would even discuss. To my knowledge there has been only one black person to progress through the Chairs. I don’t think it was a deliberate plan, but the other fact is that the people who normally

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