January 13, 2016 The Skanner Page 9
Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Senators Respond to Report on Diversity in the Halls of Power
SENATOR HARRY REID/COURTESY PHOTO
Report says 7 percent of the top staffers in the U.S. Senate are people of color, far below minorities’
representation in the population of the United States — and only 3 Senators’ staffers are Black
Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has put together a diversity initiative that
he hopes will increase the number of minorities in senate leadership
positions.
By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Contributing
Writer
L
ong
before
last
month’s
damning
report from the Joint
Center for Political
and Economic Studies
that revealed a stunning
lack of diversity among
top staff in the U.S. Sen-
ate, Nevada Democratic
Senator Harry Reid had
formed a means to assist
offices with identifying
and hiring a more di-
verse workforce.
“
of staff diversity and
stand behind the work
of the Senate Democratic
Diversity Initiative and
its efforts to help ensure
that our offices are more
reflective of the constitu-
ents we serve,” Reid said.
Luke Bolar, a spokes-
man for Louisiana Re-
publican Sen. David
Vitter, said the senator’s
staff includes three mi-
norities among its senior
members.
James R. Jones, who
conducted the Joint
Center study, told the
You need to have people
from all walks of life in the
room making decisions
Reid started the Dem-
ocratic Diversity Initia-
tive that, in addition to
assisting with a more di-
verse workforce, would
help those who want to
work on Capitol Hill with
understanding and navi-
gating the job search pro-
cess.
On Dec. 8, the D.C.-
based Joint Center – an
African American think
tank – revealed that just
7 percent of the top staff-
ers in the U.S. Senate are
people of color, far below
minorities’ representa-
tion in the population of
the United States.
The report found only
24 staffers of color out of
the 336 top Senate staff-
ers working in Washing-
ton. Further, minorities
make up over 36 percent
of the U.S. population,
and over 28 percent of
the citizen voting-age
population, according to
the study.
There are two Afri-
can American senators,
three Hispanics, and one
Asian-American.
“The recent study by
the Joint Center illustrat-
ing the lack of staff diver-
sity at the most senior
levels of Senate offices
serves as an important
reminder of how much
work we still need to do,
but, I remain as commit-
ted as ever to the concept
Associated Press that re-
searchers looked at top
positions in senators’
Washington offices, in-
cluding chiefs of staff,
legislative directors, and
communications direc-
tors in personnel offices,
as well as staff directors
assigned to committees.
They were only able to
find 12 Asian-American,
seven Latino, three Af-
rican American and two
Native American staff-
ers.
The top Senate staffers
wield important influ-
ence with their bosses,
and help shape legisla-
tion and policies that af-
fect everyone, Jones said.
“You need to have peo-
ple from all walks of life
in the room making deci-
sions,” said Jones, a Ph.D.
candidate in the sociolo-
gy department at Colum-
bia University.
Working for the Senate
also opens doors to other
jobs in government, and
by not getting those first
congressional jobs, mi-
norities find it more diffi-
cult to move up a govern-
ment ladder that looks
favorably upon Capitol
Hill experience, he said.
Minorities make up
larger numbers in the
Democratic Party than
they do in the GOP, but
the study noted that the
number of minority
staffers was not that dif-
ferent between the two
parties.
It found that 8.1 percent
of the Democrats’ top
Senate staffers were mi-
norities and 6.7 percent
of the top Republican
staffers were minorities.
The report noted that
people of color make up
about 37 percent of those
who identify as Demo-
crats, and 9 percent of
those who identify as Re-
publicans.
“Increasing the pres-
ence of people of color in
senior staff positions in
the Senate will amplify
the voices and perspec-
tives of communities
of color,” said Spencer
Overton, president of the
Joint Center.
The think tank is call-
ing on senators to in-
crease diversity by inter-
viewing more minorities
for top positions, hiring
more minority interns
and starting fellowships
for minority staffers.
It also called on the
Senate to be more trans-
parent in its staffing
because — unlike many
government agencies —
Congress is not required
to monitor the race and
ethnicity of its work-
force.
Researchers said they
combed online profiles,
consulted with Senate
organizations and called
Senate offices to come up
with their numbers.