By Raynard Jackson (NNPA Newswire Columnist)
In last week’s column, I discussed the
hypocrisy running rampant within the Democratic Party when it comes to the
hiring of Black staffers. I must have struck a serious nerve, because I
received an anonymous email from someone with seemingly high-level Democratic
credentials that was most surprising.
I have no idea who this person is, or what his/her agenda
may be, but I was able to verify the details of the email I received.
I called several friends who work for Democratic elected
officials in the United States Congress and the Democratic National Committee.
While not wanting to comment on specific members of the Democratic caucus, they
agreed that the essence of the content of this anonymous email was very
accurate.
This email contained such detailed information on each Democratic
member of Congress that it had to come from someone with intimate access to
this type of sensitive data.
What was sent to me was a listing of every Democratic
member of Congress and who their fundraisers were. What’s ironic is that only
one member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) has retained a Black
fundraiser. The rest have either a White, Asian, or Hispanic person doing their
fundraising.
Yet, these same members of the CBC have the gall to criticize
the U.S. Senate for their lack of diversity when it comes to hiring Black
staffers. Mind you, that most CBC members themselves have very few Blacks
in positions of power on their personal staffs or committees.
Maybe, Black Democrats should simply “self-identify” as
illegal, transgendered or radical Muslim extremist refugees, because they seem
to get all the benefits that only American citizens are supposed to get, but I
digress.
Last year, members of the
CBC traveled to Silicon Valley to lecture executives from Apple, Google, Intel,
SAP, and Pandora about the lack of Blacks in their workforce. Their then
chairman, U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina said, “All of them are
deficient. None of them have African Americans on their boards of directors,
and that is very disappointing because African Americans are part of the
customer base of all five of these companies.”
Maybe, just maybe, members of the CBC should have a visit
to their own member’s offices and determine why most of them have no Black
chiefs of staffs and no Black fundraisers.
In the immortal words of Michael Jackson, maybe members
of the CBC should take a look at that man in the mirror, and ask him to change
his ways. If they want to make the world more diverse, take a look at
themselves and make that change.
So, before Black folks continue to complain about what
“Whites” are not doing for us, maybe we should look at what we’re not doing for
ourselves.
Why should others do for us what the Black members of
Congress are not willing to do for us? Why do they refuse to hire capable Black
Democrats with fundraising experience?
The CBC, like Africa in the United Nations, is the
largest voting bloc in the U.S. Congress. So, they can stop any piece of
legislation presented in the House, thus they have supreme leverage and never
use it to push forward any policy that they claim to care about.
Blacks are the largest voting bloc, but have no Blacks in
leadership positions in the House. Why did they turn their backs on esteemed Congressman
Jim Clyburn when he got ousted from leadership so that Steny Hoyer could
assume a leadership post?
So, let’s get this straight, the CBC goes around the
country lecturing Silicon Valley about their lack of diversity, though they are
guilty of the same thing. They complain about the lack of diversity on
corporate boards, but at least Corporate America takes care of their own —
Whites.
But the CBC won’t even hire their own when it comes to
fundraising jobs. So, if Whites hire those that look like themselves, why won’t
the CBC do the same?
Diversity is not an “either,” “or” proposition, it’s a
“both,” “and.” CBC members criticize Silicon Valley for having few Black
staffers, they criticize the U.S. Senate for having few Black staffers, but
they’re silent when it comes to conscious decision not to hire Black
fundraisers for their own campaigns.
So, if Silicon Valley and the U.S. Senate can be labeled
“racist” for their lack of Black staffers, shouldn’t the CBC have to wear the
same label?
Raynard Jackson is founder and chairman of
Black Americans for a Better Future (BAFBF), a federally registered 527 Super
PAC established to get more Blacks involved in the Republican Party. BAFBF
focuses on the Black entrepreneur. For more information about BAFBF, visit www.bafbf.org. You can follow Raynard on
Twitter @Raynard1223.
