In Robeson County, hiring by local governments isn’t like most places, a matter of black and white. Not only is the American Indian population significant, it represents a plurality, and Hispanics, although still under-counted, are growing in numbers.

So it follows that pressure for the county and municipal workforces to mirror the county population would be double what it is elsewhere.

The county’s hiring came under scrutiny recently when it was alleged that the Board of Elections was closing the door on blacks. Although the county does not dictate who gets hired by the Elections Board, the county did get dirtied when it was drawn into the conversation, prompting County Manager Ricky Harris to invite a look at the numbers.

Within a couple of hours of our request, Harris had provided them, and they showed what he said they would: That the county’s overall workforce reflects the local demographics, but that blacks are underrepresented when it comes to department heads. We looked at the city’s numbers, and they were similar.

More details can be found in Managing Editor Sarah Willets’ Page 1A story today.

We have not been reluctant to suggest that blacks are being shut out of key leadership positions in this county, especially those controlled by the Robeson County Board of Commissioners. We said as well that the Board of Education wouldn’t hire a black superintendent, and when its members chased off the best qualified person, who happened to be white, it passed on the opportunity to prove us wrong and hire a black.

The problem with the lack of black departments heads for the county is not new — and that really is the problem. About a decade ago, this newspaper looked at the racial breakdown of county workers following allegations then that are similar to those now, and we found then what we do now.

Then, as now, there was an acknowledgement of the problem among department heads, and a promise to do better.

Obviously, that has not happened.

Everyone knows the heavy hand that the Robeson County Board of Commissioners holds when hiring decisions are made, which is why we called the two blacks on the board, Jerry Stephens and Berlester Campbell, and the head of the Personnel Committee, Roger Oxendine.

Oxendine, as has become his routine, didn’t call us back because we have continued to identify the commissioners as the best paid and benefited in the North Carolina. To their credit, Stephens and Campbell did, but they were short on solutions.

The reality is that Stephens and Campbell are powerless to effect change; everyone knows who controls the Board of Commissioners, and it certainly isn’t the blacks, although they have dutifully fallen in line with the powers on that board. Ever since E.B. Turner, a longtime city councilman and former county commissioner, departed, blacks in this county have been gasping for leaders who will serve them and not themselves. Turner was even able to orchestrate what seemed impossible at the time, the hiring of a black county manager.

We see little to indicate that despite the rhetoric, the will exists on the county board to do better when it comes to putting blacks into leadership positions. Our guess is if we take another look in 10 years to see if things have changed for the better, the numbers will be what we see now, and saw a decade ago.

But expect again an empty pledge to do better.