U.S. Senate Suffering From White Blight: Blacks, Latinos, and Native American Indians Are Woefully Under-Represented

I take pride in the fact that when we elected Barack Obama to be our President, it sent a message to the rest of the world that America is still a great nation -- made exceptional neither by the stock piles of our terrifying nukes nor by the trademarks of our vast corporations. Rather our strength comes from our impenetrable beliefs that the labels that once separated us -- slave and free, black and white, male and female -- are no more. That we have finally chosen a black man to be our leader is a remarkable testimony of how far we have come as a people.

But we have much more work to do.

We are a melting pot of tongues, tribes, and nations, yet, even today, many places of power remain woefully under-represented by Blacks, Latinos, and Native American Indians. From the corporate boardroom to the Pentagon to the Senate Floor, diversity remains much more of a feel-good rhetoric than it is good and real results. Currently, not a single Native American Indian is seated in the U.S. Senate; Native American Indians make up about 1.5% of the U.S. population. Latinos only have 3 seats in the U.S. Senate, despite making up roughly 14% of the U.S. population. And the worst statistic of all, there is only one black U.S. Senator currently seated. Women also remain under-represented in the U.S. Senate -- only 17 U.S. Senators are women.

The fact that even today, we are far more likely to see blacks and whites playing together on the gym floor or on the football field, or working together on the factory floor or on the battlefield, than on the Senate Floor, should draw our attention. The lack of diverse representation in this important place of power makes our politics weak and our policies weaker.

We have much more work to do.

Peace

Jeremy