Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) shared an Instagram selfie this week featuring over 100 Capitol Hill interns. In the caption, Ryan claims he has set a record for the most Capitol Hill interns in one selfie.
As multiple commenters quickly began pointing out, this picture may not be something to be proud of. Its lack of diversity is shameful. All you can see is sea of white faces.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BH7pXnKj5t_/
One commenter defends the photo, claiming to see one Black, one Hispanic, and two Asian interns. Even if this is correct, though, the photo comes nowhere near accurately representing the population of the United States.
Black people make up 13 percent of the United States population, Hispanic and Latina people make up 17 percent, and Asian people, 6 percent. If a photo of about 130 interns accurately represented the United States population, it would have about 17 Black interns, 22 Latina interns, and 8 Asian interns.
Ryan’s selfie does not even come close to those numbers.
Diversity in Congress
The diversity in Congress itself is not much better. Black representatives and senators make up about 9 percent of seats in the current Congress. Hispanic representatives and senators make up 6 percent, and Asians make up only 2 percent.
According to the Pew Research Center, this is actually the most diverse Congress in history.
Looking at Paul Ryan’s selfie, you can’t help but worry that efforts to make our governing bodies more diverse are going to be set back significantly. If this is the future of who will be working on Capitol Hill, the future is just more tyranny of the privileged over the marginalized.
Congress cannot claim to represent the interests of all Americans unless it actually represents the demographics of the American population. This is why Congress continues to churn out bills that hurt racial minorities.
One example is a 5-year minimum prison sentence for people who enter the United States without authorization. A recently proposed bill would make violence against a police officer a hate crime, but there are no bills which would prevent Black people from being victimized by police.
Our federal government needs to make a concerted effort to improve diversity in Congress. It can do so by recruiting young minority citizens as interns.
If governing remains an occupation reserved for the privileged, minorities will continue to suffer at the hands of a system which perpetuates racial discrimination. Perhaps next year the Speaker of the House will aim to set the record for the most diverse group of Capitol Hill interns in one selfie. Now that would be something to be proud of.
The Sea of White isn’t the only problem.. Check out this video on the Sea of Republican Men:
Featured Image Via Instagram Post.
