I am extremely grumpy this morning so figured I would do some tweeting about staff diversity on presidential campaigns and potential senior staff in 2020. (What could go wrong?) (1/many)
The idea that presidential campaigns will become diverse on their own is ridiculous. 2020 races reflect the larger world in which they live and thus are not without racism, prejudice, unconscious bais, and discrimination.
A diverse campaign happens because the candidate and campaign manager make clear to senior staff who then build that commitment at every level of an org. Requires relentless pursuit of a goal of diversity over years of time and a truly ridiculous hiring pace.
Many 2020 candidates are white and they will likely hire white campaign managers. This isn't because of lack of talent, but if they claim they "lacked PoC talent," this is racism. Period.
Marlon Marshall, Amanda Renteria, Yohannes Abraham, Adrian Saenz, Stephanie Valencia Ramierez, Emmy Ruiz, Alida Garcia, Brandon English, Lorella Praeli, Cristobal Alex, Brynne Craig, Troy Perry, Julie Greene, Tim Lim, Erika Andiola all potential 2020 CMs.
I literally thought of that list by thinking of my personal friends while in a cab. A person running for president will surely have more a team with more time and intention.
This persistent meme that there isn't enough PoC talent is a dog whistle. It explains away bad behavior while putting it on PoC staff: "we would hire you but there are none of you" "we would hire you but you are not senior enough" "we would hire you BUT"
.@inclusv, with leadership by @leedsgarcia and valiantly worked by @Eric_Lundy Moonyoung Kim whose Twitter I can't find (full disclousure: I'm on the board) does AMAZING work and has played a critical role in holding campaigns accountable to inclusion as a progressive value.
But one org with less a million dollars of year in budget cannot be expected to staff the campaigns of 30+ Democratic candidates. I don't know if there are 30 POTUS level CMs in the Party, PoC or otherwise. So the infra is not adequate to the need.
There is more diversity than ever at senior talent levels (and even more behind them!) and it is still not enough. This is a fact, not opinion. Thus, senior level campaign diversity is a systemic problem that requires systemic reforms.
A campaign that launches with majority white staff or a token diverse staffer isn't serious anout winning. The base of the Democratic primary is PoC.
A candidate serious about being president will have a diverse staff not because it is the right thing to do (it is), but because they understand the electorate. A mostly white Democratic staff signals a candidate with a shoddy presidential operation.
This is why it is not PoCs job to now rally and give campaigns binders full of people. We do this because we always got us. But the first test of a serious operation is who they hire. A non diverse staff fails the test.
It is imperative for a Democratic candidate to beat Trump. Thus, it imperative that our candidates run an operation up to this challenge. This means diverse staff is a must, not a nice to have. (/fin)
Still thinking about this so adding that: Senior staff level talent ABOUNDS. So many directors esp in FR, Organizing, Comms. Absolutely *NO* excuses there. If you don't hire inclusively at that level, this is also racism.
And, the list of potential CMs I gave are just if you are a strictly political animal (and wasn't even complete, have thought of more additions since then). If you go into movement leaders that aren't strictly political, EVEN MORE.
All of this applies to candidates X100. How can you say Beto without FIRST saying Stacey, Andrew, Ben, and a whole host of others? Racism. Inclusion is possible if we work for it. I l believe and know that we can and will. (/fin for real)
