A Very White Republican Leadership Plans Minority Outreach
GOP Leader Forrest Gump plays the con in East L.A.
As the Republican Party gears up to launch a concerted, well-funded outreach effort aimed at attracting elusive minority voters, it’s not just battling dismal poll numbers and tough demographic trends — it’s working to overcome its own overwhelming whiteness.
There is not a single racial minority among the 20 most senior officials who run the Republican National Committee, National Republican Congressional Committee, and National Republican Senatorial Committee — the three wings of the GOP apparatus charged with promoting candidates and winning elections. And a range of former Republican staffers told BuzzFeed that this lack of diversity has paralyzed the party’s ability to connect with minority communities.
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.“If you’re trying to court African-American voters, it’s much better to have an African-American in the room talking about how these outreach policies are going to be implemented,” said former RNC chair Michael Steele, the first African-American to hold that position. “They have an appreciation and understanding of what the issues are, how the language is being interpreted, and what takeaway they will get from your visit.”
But the party’s official Washington face is whiter than ever, and it is the subject of criticism that echoed throughout conversations with minority operatives who have worked for the GOP, some of whom declined to speak on the record for fear of career repercussions.
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.One former RNC field staffer, who is Hispanic, described a culture of cynicism among his predominantly white colleagues when it came to minority outreach. He said that in his office, whenever they were notified of a new Republican outreach effort, they would pass around a Beanie Baby — which they had dubbed the “pander bear” — and make fun of the “tokenism.”
“Any kind of racially specific campaign activity was often treated with skepticism by white staffers,” he said.
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