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Senate staff mostly White, study finds
By Hazel Trice Edney NNPA Washington correspondent
WASHINGTON (NNPA) -- The newly convened, all-White United States Senate not only doesn't look like America, neither does its staff.
Only 8.3 percent of the Senate's Washington-based office staffers are African Americans, fluctuating very little over the past decade, according to the "Senate Staff Employment Study" by the Congressional Management Foundation. The foundation is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that monitors congressional hiring practices.
"Whites, who represent 85 percent of total Senate staff, hold about 95 percent of executive and policy positions," the study said. African Americans comprise slightly more than 12 percent of the U. S. population. By contrast, about 70 percent of the population is white, a figure that is expected to drop below 50 percent shortly after 2053.
"The percentage of Blacks in executive positions rose from 1.5 percent in 1993 to 3.1 percent in 2001," according to the study. And when African Americans are brought into the loop, they earn less than their White counterparts.
In 2001, Black Senate staff earned 80 cents for every $1 earned by White Senate staff members, down 3 percentage points since 1991, the study states. In 2000, Black House staff members earned 95 cents for every $1 earned by House staffers who are White, up 6 percentage points since 1990, it states.
The issue of Blacks on Capitol Hill is receiving increased interest after Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) apologized for his racially charged remarks
"What has come out of this is the fact that there is now a magnifying glass on the makeup of both the Senate and the Senate staff," says Parker. "It has raised consciousness."
Black staffers are 7.6 percent of the 435-member House.
Former Sens. Edward Brooke and Carol Moseley-Braun were the only Blacks ever elected to the Senate. Brooke was a Republican from Massachusetts and Moseley-Braun was a Democrat from Illinois. The House has 39 Black members.
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Key findings
* 8.3% of the U.S. Senate's Washington staff are African American.
* Whites hold 95% of executive and policy positions.
* Black staffers earn 80 cents for every $1 earned by their White counterparts.
* The percentage of blacks in executive positions climbed from 1.5% in 1993 to 3.1% in 2001.
* Black staffers comprise 7.6% of the 435-member House of Representatives.
Source: Congressional Management Foundation
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Approximately half of the 100 Senate offices have responded to the survey each year between 1991 and 2001. But Parker said there's the possibility that the study's findings could be actually lower.
"If you look at the total Senate, look at who sent nothing," says Jackie B. Parker, a former president of the U. S. Senate Black Legislative Staff Caucus and creator of its job bank, which is designed to assist senators with hiring people of color.
"Those figures are misleading. I know we're less than 3 percent."
Brad Fitch, CMF deputy director, says the names of senators who responded to the survey are confidential, and that those who responded were equally balanced between Republicans and Democrats.
Having Black staffers on board is considered important because of their diversity of input when researching and writing legislation, Parker said.
"We know people of struggle. We're committed to people of struggle. We care about all of those things because it affects all of our lives," said Parker. "I'm not saying that our non-African-American colleagues can't help senators on issues. But, you must have a wide diversity of perspectives."
Because of the dearth in African Americans in the Senate and on its staff, she says the BLSC has had to act as a political force on Capitol Hill, holding its own hearings on key issues, including more than 45 hearings on sanctions against South Africa during its apartheid years.
"And those forums were filled with not only African Americans on our Senate Caucus, they were filled with non-Black staffers. They came to these forums, and they learned, and they brought back to their members and we won," said Parker, deputy legislative director for Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.).
As is in the House, many issues of importance to Blacks come up in the Senate.
Among them are hate crime legislation, raising the minimum wage, predatory lending prohibitions, disparate crack-cocaine sentencing, mandatory minimum sentences, racial profiling by police and education funding.
"We've been successful in bringing many, many Black staffers on board. But, it's still miniscule when you look at the full scheme of things. The problem is [that] we're most times out of the loop," Parker says. "We're saying it's time for us to be in the loop."
To recruit more African Americans for the House and the Senate, Parker says her group has worked with universities to recruit from graduating seniors, established internships, mentorship programs and has appealed to Black organizations.
The Black Legislative Staff Caucus job bank has been credited for helping more than 246 African Americans get jobs on Capitol Hill, Parker said. Still, there are no Black chiefs of staff in Senate offices, although there have been in past years, including Barry Caldwell, formerly in the office of Sen. Arlen Spector (R-Pa.).
Ngozi Pole, office manager who does the hiring for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), said, "The only reason that these numbers are not proportional is because of opportunities. It's not because there's no talent."
Pole said part of the answer is that the senators themselves must take stronger interest in diversifying their staffs. Perhaps Congress should even consider setting up tables at job fairs, he suggested.
BLSC president Darius Goore, press secretary for Sen. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), is determined to help increase the numbers.
"We're committed to people of struggle. We care about all of those things because it affects all of our lives," says Parker. "This is not even reflective of America. We are 12 percent in America, yet here we are less than 3 percent."
Some Black Senate staffers are not surprised by the numbers.
"It feels like America. The further you go up the ladder, the fewer of us you see. That's the Senate. That's the Hill. That's corporate America," says Michael Alexander, professional member on the Democratic staff of the Governmental Affairs Committee. "That's something that we all need to be about changing."