January 11, 2017 The Skanner Page 7
Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Lack of Diversity in Hiring Plagues Senate on Both Sides of the Aisle
Only three senior-level Senate staff positions are held by African Americans
By Lauren Victoria
Burke (NNPA Newswire
Contributor)
D
on Cravins, the
National
Urban
League’s
senior
vice president for
policy, challenged mem-
bers of the U.S. Senate,
particularly the Senate’s
46 Democrats, on the
lack of minority hiring
in their senior staff po-
sitions at a two-hour fo-
rum on Capitol Hill.
“Out of 300 senior-level
positions in the Senate,
only three are occupied
by African Americans.
What’s most insulting
“
tive agenda controls the
$3.8 trillion dollar fed-
eral budget and provides
oversight over federal
employees — collectively
4.1 million people.
Republican
Senator
Tim Scott’s Chief of Staff
Jennifer DeCasper, the
only Black Chief of Staff
currently serving in the
U.S. Senate, participated
in the discussion. The
only Black Legislative
Director in the Senate,
Clint Odom, who was
recently hired by Sen.
Kamala Harris (D-Calif.),
was in the audience.
The National Urban
League and the Joint
African American in any
of the three senior staff
positions.
New
Democratic
Senate Leader Chuck
Schumer (D-N.Y.), Sena-
tors Kirsten Gillibrand
(D-N.Y.), Tim Kaine (D-
Va.), Mark Warner (D-
Va.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.),
Chris Van Hollen (D-
Md.), currently have no
Black senior staff mem-
bers. Additionally, Sen.
Van Hollen became the
Chairman of the Demo-
cratic Senatorial Cam-
paign Committee in No-
vember 2016 and hired
no Black senior staff ,
even though the elector-
ate is becoming increas-
ingly Black and Brown.
“The numbers are
Center for Political and
Economic Studies have
been specifi c to focus on
Black and Latino hiring
to senior staff positions
in the Senate; Chief of
Staff , Legislative Direc-
tor and Communications
Director. The reasons are
obvious to Capitol Hill
insiders; Senior staff ers
hire junior staff , control
the offi ce budget and
handle the most import-
ant issues in the offi ce
from policy priorities to
communications.
The lack of minority
hiring and promotion is
particularly bad for Sen-
ate Democrats, many of
whom owe their election
victories to Black vot-
ers. No Senate Democrat
from a state with over 20
percent African Amer-
ican population has an
See SENATE on page 10
““Everybody can be great, because
anybody can serve...”
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
‘We are making it abundant-
ly clear -- the time is now’
to me is that only one of
them works for a Dem-
ocrat member — a party
that goes out every elec-
tion and relies on Black
voters to elect them,”
said Cravins, a former
Louisiana state senator;
Cravins served as Chief
of Staff for former-Sen-
ator Mary Landrieu for
two years. “I’m not hap-
py, today. I’m frustrated
and embarrassed and
I’ve had enough.”
Cravins added: “The
time for lip service is
over. We won’t stop
pressing this issue.”
About
250
people
showed up for the open
discussion on congres-
sional hiring, specifi -
cally focused on the low
numbers of Black and
Latino staff in the U.S.
Senate.
“We are making it
abundantly clear -- the
time is now,” said Don
Bell, who added that
Senator Schumer, who
became the new Demo-
cratic Leader in the Sen-
ate when Sen. Harry Reid
(D-Ariz.) retired, only
has Black staff at non-se-
nior staff levels.
The senior staff posi-
tions on Capitol Hill are
Chief of Staff , Legislative
Director and Communi-
cations Director.
“There are nearly 40
general counsels of color
standing at the helm of
Fortune 500 companies
in America. Forty. And
yet you’d be hard pressed
to fi nd one Black one in
the Hart Senate Offi ce
Building,” Cravins told
the audience of staff , ad-
vocates and press. “It’s
an embarrassment. It’s a
travesty. Something has
got to be done.”
Will Searcy, the direc-
tor of the Black Talent
Initiative at the Joint
Center for Political &
Economic Studies, said
that Senate staff dictates
that the Senate’s legisla-
worst than they have
ever
been,”
Cravins
railed.
“We’ve
been
talking about this issue
for decades.”
The issue of Senate
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