Racism in Progressive Politics: A Deep Dive

written by Audra Grassia, edited by Loryn Wilson Carter

Why this?

This is the first in a 12-part series about racism in the progressive political ecosystem.

My focus will be how we — in the progressive and Democratic political ecosystem — reinforce racism by virtue of how we recruit people; how we promote (or fail to promote) people; and how we retain (or fail to retain) people.

I understand there are challenges to creating a unified vision for talent recruitment, training, management, and retention across a sphere that is comprised of hundreds of organizations, entities, and interests. But if recent events have taught us anything, it’s that the time for excuses is over.

We can do better if we put our minds (and money) to it. And we must do better, if we ever expect things to change.

Why me?

I’ve worked in progressive politics for over 15 years, first working on several candidate campaigns and later working for several national organizations and campaigns, including the Democratic Governors Association (DGA), EMILY’s List, Hillary for America and most recently Warren for President.

Over the years, I have witnessed our failure to address our racist systems over and over again. I’ve witnessed this as a Latina who benefits from White privilege. I’ve witnessed this as a Latina who got her first paid political internship from a Latino consultant at a time when I could have never afforded to take an unpaid internship and at a time when I didn’t even know politics was a profession people could pursue. I don’t know where I would be today if I hadn’t gotten lucky all those years ago. But I do know that not everyone is as lucky as I am.

Right now, I once again sit in a position of privilege. I think what is happening to Black people in our country is really screwed up.

I’ve heard my Black colleagues, friends and strangers calling for non-Black people (especially those of us who benefit from White privilege) to speak up. To call out racism where and when we see it. To be better allies. To understand that simply being “not racist” is to be complicit in racism. (Kendi, 2019)

It’s with this lens that I write this series. I know I don’t have a finger on the pulse of all of the problems and I certainly don’t have all of the answers. My only goal is to use my privilege to drive the conversation forward. I hope others will join me in sharing their stories and analysis on the root causes that perpetuate racism within our profession.

Why now?

I’m ashamed to say that until the killing of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor came to the forefront of the news, I didn’t see the problems that existed in my own profession. I’ve had the conversation about political staff diversity for years. I have even written about the issue in the past. Outside of describing individuals’ experiences with racism in our workspace, I never once thought: The entire system is racist.

I also recently read Ibram X. Kendi’s book, How to be an Antiracist. I initially started writing about “structural racism.” But as Dr. Kendi points out, “‘Institutional racism’ and ‘structural racism’ and ‘systemic racism’ are redundant. Racism itself is institutional, structural, and systemic.” (pg. 37 of ebook)

When it comes to progressive politics, there are not a set of policies that are racist. There is, instead, a lack of policies that are antiracist. The lack of antiracist policies means our entire system is racist. Atima Omara does a great job of summing up the problems in her recent editorial appearing in The Lily.

The intersectionality between racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, ageism, antisemitism, fatphobia and other forms of discrimination should not be overlooked. Many of the underlying issues I address in this piece can be applied to identities other than people of color. However, I have chosen to focus on racism, given the moment. It warrants special and specific attention.

Confronting our hypocrisy

Lack of diversity within Democratic politics has come into the news time and time again. I will offer my perspective on some of the root causes that perpetuate racism within the progressive political ecosystem, particularly as it relates to hiring, training and retaining talent.

By perpetuating racism, our talent management practices fly in the face of our core values. How can we preach diversity and inclusion, when we so obviously and consistently fail ourselves?

How can we claim to work for antiracist legislation, when we’re not fully willing to give people of color a chance to succeed in our industry?

And how can we argue that we’re the party of diversity and inclusion, when our consultant teams, our party and committee leadership, and our campaign management leadership are still primarily White?

Definitions

Progressive Political Ecosystem: the group of committees, organizations, and consultants who help elect Democrats and progressive candidates to office.

Candidate Campaigns v. Issue Advocacy. The bulk of my experience has been in candidate campaigns and therefore, I am most specifically referring to candidate campaigns. However, the consultants and funding tables that support candidate campaigns are the same ones who support advocacy campaigns and organizations. All of it is intertwined and while some organizations do better than others, we’re all failing at holding our partners accountable to a higher standard.

By the Numbers

One of the primary challenges in dismantling the racist systems that underpin the progressive political ecosystem is the inability to quantify the impact of racism within our industry. The information we do have, however, suggests that people of color are under-represented both on the staffs of organizations working in the space and in the vendors employed by progressive organizations for electoral work.

Here’s what we do know:

• According to a 2017 report by Inclusv, 32% of staff in state Democratic parties were people of color, while 46% of Democratic voters were people of color. The fact that 10 states didn’t even participate in this survey suggests this number is likely to be an under-estimate
• In April of 2018, according to a BuzzFeed News Analysis of federal campaign finance filings from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), only 6.4% of money spent on contractors went to Black-owned firms and spending on Latino-run firms was approximately 4.3%. (BuzzFeed, 4/2018)
• While the DNC contended that 29% of their contract and consultant spending went to “diverse businesses,” “racial and ethnic minority-owned businesses still accounted for only 17.6% of the $17.5 million the party spent on consultant work, according to a BuzzFeed News analysis.” (BuzzFeed, 4/2018)

These statistics don’t even scratch the surface of what we should endeavor to learn. Atima Omara highlighted in 2018, for example, the Democratic party’s record in failing to support Black women to rise to leadership positions. Even so, these statistics provide some context for the problem.

Confronting racism in progressive politics should not be a box-checking exercise for organizations and leaders. We must thoughtfully and thoroughly examine how we do business, and how those practices reinforce racism, not only as reflected by an organization’s overall racial makeup, but also the experiences of its staff and the organization’s overall approach to its mission. We must understand the full why behind the numbers and then work to fix the problem.

More to come

Over the next 12 weeks, I will focus my series on the political professional staff lifecycle and identify specific ways in which we allow racism to persist, by virtue of the way we do business. I will go in depth into topics ranging from political internships, to our system of job referrals, to our extremely White consultant teams. I will endeavor to both identify the problems, while also proposing some solutions.

But, I am only one person, and this needs to be a collaborative effort.

If you are interested in sharing your story, either anonymously or not, co-authoring content, or authoring your own work that I can help amplify, please reach out. I am excited to help grow a community of people who want to dismantle the racism within our ecosystem, together.

To stay up to date on this series, and more, please follow me on LinkedIn and Twitter.