The Democratic National Committee, apparently concerned about cost overruns - imagine that - announced layoffs. Not just any layoffs, mind you, but reportedly layoffs of 10 black staffers, a number later revised to "less than 10."
Enter Donna Brazile, the black former campaign manager of Al Gore, and the lady who once called the Republican Party "the party of the white boys." Brazile goes ballistic. "I'm just outraged," said Brazile. "They started reading me the names and I said, 'Oh, oh - they're all black.' I went through the roof."
So, the DNC, despite its declared financial problems, cannot lay off black workers. Question: Would Ms. Brazile, or, say, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, or anybody else, for that matter, complain if the DNC issued pink slips to white staffers?
Were the black staffers the least experienced? Were the black staffers the least competent? How many other black staffers remain? Did DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe issue a memo, "Given our cost overruns, find 10 black workers and lay them off"? Is Ms. Donna "Republican-Party-the-party-of-the-white-boys" Brazile insinuating racism at the DNC?
Reverse course! The DNC communications strategist Jim Mulhall said, "The DNC has a strong commitment to diversity, to making sure that the DNC reflects America and the Democratic Party." The DNC denied the impending layoffs. Then Mulhall said they had hired eight people in the last month, five of whom were black. So all remains safe and secure within the "racially diverse" Democratic Party.
This, what, snafu, at the DNC exposes much that is wrong with the party.
Remember when then-President Bill Clinton described seeking a Cabinet that "looks like America"? What about a Cabinet that represents the best of America, resulting in, but not necessarily causing, a gender, religious or ethnically diverse Cabinet?
The Democratic Party retains its monolithic black vote by serving as protectors of blacks in the untidy, cruel racist private sector world. Never mind that most employers, believe it or not, hire, fire and promote for one thing and one thing only - to make money. An employer who consistently refuses to hire or mistreats minority or female employees runs the risk of a) losing a pool of talented workers, b) earning a reputation of scaring away good workers, and c) alienating current workers offended by the loss of competent, profit-making co-workers, indeed losing talent to competitors.
Many blacks despise the Republican Party because they perceive it as racist. According to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, D.C., of the more than 9,000 black elected officials in the United States, only 50 are Republicans.
Bill Maxwell, black editorial writer and columnist for the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, calls black Republicans "self-loathers" and wrote:
"Black Republicans fail to understand that few white Republicans will accept them as equals. Although they will not acknowledge the truth, most white Republicans, like most other whites, view black Republicans as strange creatures . . .
"White Republicans feign consternation that most blacks find them contemptible, arguing that those mean old Democrats have been black people's real enemy all along. Keyes and others, such as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts and California businessman Ward Connerly, also spout this nonsense . . .
"White Republicans love this kind of stuff. They wink and nod each time black Republicans claim that racism is a thing of the past, that whites and blacks are free to compete equally. Black Republicans have fooled themselves into believing that white Republicans are their brethren."
The Democratic Party relies on the massive black vote, and does so by creating this "victicrat" mentality. In a "Spirit of Democracy Symposium on Diversity," the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation complained about the failure of African and Caribbean immigrants to see themselves as black, and thus, recognize the "racism" they face in the job market. The Washington Times' Steve Miller writes, "U.S. black leaders have failed to get African and Caribbean immigrants to think of themselves as 'black' and have created a rift among the groups." Miller quotes William Spriggs, executive director of the National Urban League Institute for Opportunity and Equality: "'Black politicians . . . haven't been able to get (black immigrants) to buy into what white America is all about, about what white privilege is. Immigrants don't come here with that understanding. We have to change our language to let them know that these are their problems.'"
Here's the problem. African and Caribbean immigrants do well. According to the Associated Press, income for blacks from the Caribbean and Africa averages $40,000, $7,000 higher than "African-Americans." They also have more education, suggesting - gasp - a link between education and income. In short, unlike many indigenous "African-Americans," blacks from the Caribbean and Africa do not see themselves as "victicrats."
But, give Brazile time. She'll work on 'em, just as she did at the DNC.
