the group is predominantly white

English translation: local CEOs are predominantly white

13:11 Jul 29, 2019

English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Government / Politics

English term or phrase: the group is predominantly white

Hello everyone,

From the book Thank You for Being Late by Thomas Friedman.

For its part, Itasca has understood that its members needed to go well beyond check writing and make a personal commitment to own the change as well. To do that, Itasca set up a yearlong leadership seminar that focused on increasing workforce diversity. Local CEOs were asked to explore their own prejudices (***the group is predominantly white, but includes a few members of other races***) and move their organizations to contribute to regional efforts to reduce employment disparities. The project was cochaired by MayKao Y. Hang and Brad Hewitt, CEO of Thrivent Financial. If you talk to Hang, forty-three, for just ten minutes, you understand how far Minnesota has come in the diversity realm since I grew up there—and how far it still has to go.

A Hmong refugee from Laos, she came to the United States in 1976 with her family. She was a first-grader at the time and moved to St. Paul in 1978. She went through the St. Paul public school system, which is now 31 percent Asian American (predominantly Southeast Asian), earned a BA from Brown, a master’s degree in social policy and distributive jus-tice from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs, and a doctorate in public administration from Hamline University. Today she is chair of the board of directors of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank in her spare time. Most of her day is spent as president of the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving lives in greater St. Paul and beyond.

This subchapter in the book is called The Itasca Project. In the same subchapter Mr. Friedman refers to Itasca as "the group". "The group named itself after the lake and state park in northern Minnesota—Itasca—where Minnesota’s progressive elites..."

My question is: What does "the group" refer to: Itasca or Local CEOs?

I asked this question in another forum:

https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/the-group-is.3599475...

And a native speaker answered "Good question. It's not entirely clear. We can imagine the phrase "Local CEOs" as being an abbreviation of "A group of local CEOs", in which case "the group" means those CEOs. I think that is more likely than the other interpretation, because it sounds as though Itasca is a big organization, which one would not generally refer to as a group."

But when I provided more context the same native speaker admitted that "Ah, well. In that case, all bets are off. It's not just "not entirely clear", it's not at all clear."

More context:

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/29/business/in-the-twin-citi...

Every Friday morning, 14 men and women who oversee some of the biggest companies, philanthropies and other institutions in Minneapolis, St. Paul and the surrounding area gather here over breakfast to quietly shape the region’s economic agenda.

They form the so-called Working Team of the Itasca Project, a private civic initiative by 60 or so local leaders to further growth and development in the Twin Cities.

https://www.theitascaproject.com/about-us.html

The Itasca Project operates as a virtual organization with no physical presence, staff or standing agenda. A volunteer working team provides ongoing guidance and oversight. Participants meet 4-5 times a year and agree on priority issues that will address regional economic vitality, quality of life, and prosperity for all. A CEO or team of CEOs takes the leadership on each issue and assembles task forces.

So what does "the group" refer to: Itasca or Local CEOs?

Thank you.

Mikhail Korolev KudoZ activity Questions: 2410 (2 open) (10 closed without grading) Answers: 130
Local time: 16:38

Selected answer:local CEOs are predominantly white

Explanation:
imo

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Note added at 4 hrs (2019-07-29 17:15:16 GMT)
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I really don't have any doubts about this. The Itaska group is about the "yearlong leadership seminar that focused on increasing workforce diversity."

Remember that the The Itasca Project operates as a "virtual organization" so it CAN'T give an opinion. Only the individual members of the working team who are CEOs (ONE CEO or team of CEOs takes the leadership on each issue and assembles task forces.) can answer that question. So, there is no doubt in my mind this refers to the local (group of) CEOS in general.

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Note added at 1 day 3 hrs (2019-07-30 17:10:57 GMT) Post-grading
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Glad to have helpedl

Selected response from:

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 14:38

Grading comment

Thank you very much, Yvonne.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED

4 +4

local CEOs are predominantly white

Yvonne Gallagher

Discussion entries: 4

Answers

26 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +4

local CEOs are predominantly white

Yvonne Gallagher
Ireland
Local time: 14:38
Works in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 56

Grading comment

Thank you very much, Yvonne.

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