Just try to disbelieve your eyes

Still a Long Way to Go – James Dean Bradfield

I’ve flown a LOT in the past few weeks. Several times back and forth across the country, with a fair number of stopovers. While boarding all those planes I noticed something – not something particularly exciting or surprising, but something I think is important precisely because of its banality. It’s this: all of the people in first class (or who get the A+ numbers of the “business class” section for Southwest) are men. Every once in a while there’s a woman, but I was not on a single flight where there was more than one. Plus, they’re pretty much all white.

I was reminded of this on reading the list of Senate Chairs for the upcoming term. 19 people, two women. Neither of the Hawaiian Senators are white, but the rest are.

Obama will be the first black president, but let’s not forget that he was also only the fifth black US Senator. If you want an idea of just how preposterously white the Senate is, check out their page devoted to the ethnic diversity of the institution. 19 non-white members over its entire history.

So yeah, there’s still a lot to be done.

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