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Fostering diversity and a positive reputation with women and minorities makes good business sense. It helps companies:

- recruit and retain a talented workforce;
- enhance revenues and market share;
- expand relationships with minority- and women-owned businesses;
- create a positive public image;
- reduce or eliminate criticism from institutional stock purchasers, and
- reduce the likelihood of incidents of harassment and discrimination that lead to consumer boycotts, litigation and government intervention.

And the United States military, perhaps now more than ever, understands the value of diversity. As The New York Times reported in December from Afghanistan:

"Northern Alliance soldiers here ... do not know what to make of Pfc. Shaquib Khandakar, a 19-year-old from Elmhurst, Queens. A Bangladeshi by birth, he speaks Urdu ... , as do some of the Afghan soldiers. He is a Muslim. And he has dark skin.

...

... He has been challenged by Northern Alliance soldiers to recite sections of the Koran in Arabic, which he can do. ...

'Who knew I'd be here drinking tea with them?' he asked."^xvii

We've come a long way since the days of a segregated army.

We have come this far only because a nonviolent army, emboldened by the end of legalized segregation, arose to challenge segregation's mortality as well.

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