I'm reading "Biden sees exodus of Black staffers and some frustration among those who remain/The White House is historically diverse. But there are concerns internally about a wave of departures and the current culture" (Politico).
A White House official pushed back on those concerns, saying that around 14 percent of current White House staffers identify as Black — in line with national proportions....
Some “people have not had the best experiences and a lot of that has to do with the dearth of Black leadership,” said one former White House official, who is Black. “Think about any workplace. Black folks need some person to go to, to strategize and be a mentor, and we just don’t have as many folks who can be mentors to us.”...
Staffers concede that the salaries, which start at $48,000 for an entry-level White House job, has made it difficult to retain Black employees in a city with a high cost of living....
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"Black folks need some person to go to, to strategize and be a mentor, and we just don’t have as many folks who can be mentors to us.”
Which rests on an amazing assumption. Which tells a lot about black attitudes and race relations.
Calling Rachel Dolezal.
14 percent of current White House staffers identify as Black — in line with national proportions
So, now you CAN self-identify as black? So Rachel Dolezal is back in the saddle?
Wait. “Identity as black”? WTF
“Black folks need some person to go to, to strategize and be a mentor, and we just don’t have as many folks who can be mentors to us.”...
Isn’t that the job of the Vice President? Or Susan Rice?
in this day and age,
IF you could Possibly identify as black (one black grandfather? great grandfather?).. WOULDN'T You?
Strange, but in my almost 40 years of working for big and small companies I never once felt a need to reach out to a white mentor. Two of my most important ones were a Black male and a woman.
One sign that the Dems are going to lose their majorities in the fall: The Biden White House is leaking, something that didn't happen for the first year or fifteen months. Also: it is a weird story line that affirmative action is either a good idea on principle or just morally salutary, and then the people who are affirmed need mentors of their own kind, otherwise they will go home crying at night and then quit within a few months. Wow. This new world is going to be great.
Staffers concede that the salaries, which start at $48,000 for an entry-level White House job, has made it difficult to retain Black employees in a city with a high cost of living.
Wait, so black staffers are paid less than white staffers? Talk about burying the lead!
We all know these people work long hours at thankless jobs for low pay. They do it for the resume line that opens doors across the lobbying industry. Big money for little work and lots of perks. So what's the real reason they are leaving? How many of them should never have been there in the first place?
I had no idea that black workers can only be mentored by other blacks.
Exactly why does your mentor need to be the same skin color?
Isn’t a job about performing your assigned duties at the highest level of proficiency possible?
Are these people telling me no teacher throughout their high school/college years that motivated them to work hard and learn how to function in a multi-cultural (I hate that word) work place was any color other than black?
Sick, sick, sick to death of this whining.
Get to work on time. Work your ass off and reach out to ANYONE OF ANY COLOR when you need advice or mentoring.
Staffers concede that the salaries, which start at $48,000 for an entry-level White House job, has made it difficult to retain Black employees...
Is $48,000 sufficient for non-Black employees? I suspect it would be as $23/hr is well above what Democrat politicians call a sufficient living wage. But my real guess is people of all races and gender are departing the White House, and people are only noticing the black ones. Didn't they just trade a white woman press secretary for a black woman?
identify as Black - is Rachel Dolezal working there?
"Staffers concede that the salaries, which start at $48,000 for an entry-level White House job,"
unlike the $48k they pay white GS7's? They live just fine
According to my sources, Jill was vexed enough to fext about the Blaxit.
LOL. You need to be the same race to mentor someone. You would think diversity applied to mentoring?
I have always figured any that says they want to mentor you, your best move is to run for the hills.
When I read this article I was shocked at the concept that people expected to get a job at the White House and then be trained and mentored in their roles. That's a little scary, on many levels, but it does explain the incompetence coming from the administration.
Is this a racial or a generational thing? The article highlights the racial aspect but would it also be true of white people brought into the White House at a young age?
Whichever, I do not think the people quoted realize how bad it makes them look. Nor does the writer, for that matter. he/she seems sympathetic.
As I have said before, we are being governed by the average HR department of a mid-level company.
“Think about any workplace. Black folks need some person to go to, to strategize and be a mentor.....”.
They can only strategize with another Black person?
"Think about any workplace. Black folks need some person to go to, to strategize and be a mentor, and we just don’t have as many folks who can be mentors to us."
I remember when white folks used to act as mentors for young black men and women, and both parties thought it was valuable and worthwhile. Now that would be viewed as paternalistic---not that there is anything wrong with that.
A mentor is a mentor.
The whole Demmie establishment is extremely racialist.
Grass is green and the sky is blue, while political tokenism and lip-service remains strong. Put a few Black people in high profile positions. Throw out People of Color diversity executive orders that actually do nothing. Vote on a few giveaways. Propose fantasy laws that have no chance of passing -- blame phantom White Supremacists for the vote failure.
Support secured. That's how it has long been done.
With 14% of the population, if there was a team of 6 leaders you'd be slightly over-represented with 1 black leader on that team.
In other words: Unless as a black person you choose to work for a black-owned/black-operated employer, chances are the vast vast majority of your leadership is not going to be black. That really shouldn't be a reason to leave in an of itself.
The salary comment at the end though....in a period of hyper inflation....that's probably the real key contributing factor. People go to work for the white house for the experience/name on their resume, their life sucks from lots of hours and poor pay, and they leave.
Teh black staffers should get with that white staffer with the long fingernails, unique clothing ensembles and flamboyant hand gestures, he seems to be able to get on nicely on $48k.
Rabid diversity, perhaps. Diversity [dogma]: color judgment, class-based bigotry, is not limited to racism, sexism, ageism (e.g. one-child/selective-child), denies individual dignity, individual conscience, intrinsic value, normalizes color blocs (e.g. people of color (POC)), color quotas (e.g. Jew privilege), and affirmative discrimination (e.g. too many people of Asia (POA)).
I read the same stories, and I wonder if this is more about the entitledness of young workers. It echoes what I've seen in other workplaces of younger workers complaining about "not having appropriate mentors" or "not having the proper tools for the job".
The era of "figure it out" is gone.
$48K in DC? Slave wages!
Wait…
Appoint them to the Supreme Court. They'll hang around.
The White House is historically diverse.
Historically. After all, it was built by "diverse" people.
But perhaps more seriously, if Biden's White House is more "diverse" it's because somebody keeps adding more and more categories. I don't know if there are more African-Americans in Biden's White House than in Obama's, but there would probably have to be more trans people and gender queers.
"Black folks need some person to go to, to strategize and be a mentor, and we just don’t have as many folks who can be mentors to us.”
I've often thought black people have a distorted idea of what it's like to be white.
Why is it so hard for the White House to talk about racism?
I should sue my alma mater, most of my professors were of South Asian descent, none looked like my boring honky self, no wonder I didn’t get straight A’s, I just couldn’t relate
14% sounds like a quota system was operating. No more no less.
The White House and the Democrats once had a "Fugitive Slave Law" and it looks like they need it again. "Fugitive token law."
Everyone there not named Biden or Harris is a servant to these people. There’s no mentoring for servants.
How long does one have to be employed as a staffer at the White House, or for the White House slaving in some executive administrative position for $48k, to have a resume topmost line that enables jumping to a 6 figure salaried job elsewhere in DC?
I'd bet about 12 to 18 months, say, January from the Inaugural to the next year, leaving for greener pastures by Juneteenth, or so.
Why can any group of people in a diverse workplace only have a good experience if there are people like them to work with predominantly?
So, a black person cannot seek out a mentor who is white (which most persons in senior positions probably are, just based on demographic odds)? Is that how it works, segregated mentorship? How is that ("I must have a mentor who is black") not just another form of racism? How are people who think that way not being racist?
All of this flows from the Democrat's non-stop, 24/7/365 talk about race, race, and race.
"around 14 percent of current White House staffers identify as Black". What, that's not enough? OK, we're going to need some volunteers ...
Here's an idea; eliminate student loan debt for everyone who "identifies as Black". We'll have a West Wing that looks like Nigeria! Or at least, identifies like Nigeria.
"A White House official pushed back on those concerns, saying that around 14 percent of current White House staffers identify as Black — in line with national proportions"
A lot more than 14% of Democrat voters "identify as Black". Shouldn't your "hired" pool look like your "hiring" pool?
Which is "Democrats", not "all Americans"
“Think about any workplace. Black folks need some person to go to, to strategize and be a mentor, and we just don’t have as many folks who can be mentors to us.”
So, you're saying that "Black folks" are racist pigs, who refuse to "go to" or be mentored by anyone who doesn't have the same skin color?
Or are you saying that Democrats are such racist pigs that no "white" Democrat will mentor "Black folks"?
Joe Biden's presidency is in free-fall collapse but the only way Politico can talk about that is to take the Black-staffer angle.
A person making $48k per year needs a roommate, or three, then ends won't be so hard to meet.
14 percent of current White House staffers identify as Black
WTH? You're black or you're not.
The JOLTS report for April just came out. The quits rate was 2.9% for the month and the total separations rate was 4.0%. Over a year that means about 35% quit and almost half leave their employer. The story doesn't have total numbers of employees so I cannot tell if blacks or any other groups are leaving the Biden administration at more than average rates.
Poor babies...if you can't hack it, learn to code.
You need a mentor to do your low-level busy-body job? Learn to code.
Some of us live in the real world where we had to figure stuff out, ask smart questions, and get shit done or else find another job.
We didn't have the magic shield of blackness to protect us.
If Black people can only perform under "Black leadership", then I, a white guy, would have to be pretty dumb to hire any Black people.
Currently I have a Black primary care physician (from Benin, via Cook County Hospital, Chicago -- at least I know where to head if I get shot!); before her there was a white woman, and before her a white man. As "mentors" wrt my health, all three were terrific.
OTOH, when I went to Cal on a MechE fellowship, I saw with some dismay that my advisor was one of the two (?) female professors in the department. Not her fault, of course; still, the implicit idea was that "the girls" ought to be mentored by female faculty.
The whole thing is a bunch of hooey, IMO. Especially if you expand it to other races, gender combos, &c. Must a Black lesbian be mentored by another Black lesbian? Must an Arab-American be mentored by another Arab-American, and does it matter whether they have different sexes? Can Chinese-Americans be mentored by Japanese-Americans or South Korean-Americans or Indian-Americans? Giant can o'worms.
If you don't want to work for Joe...you know the thing!
" Bob Boyd said...
According to my sources, Jill was vexed enough to fext about the Blaxit."
Absolutely wonderful...
Blaxit was originally supposed to be the movement of African-Americans out of the Democratic Party. It didn't happen, or wasn't noticed. Some Black men voted for Trump. Very few Black women did.
Is it really the lack of mentors that's at fault? Kamala presumably has upper level Black staffers, yet she can't hang on to anybody for long. I suspect the problem is more the chaotic, shambolic atmosphere of the Biden White House. Combine that with a feeling that African-Americans really aren't a priority for the Biden Team. Black staffers may be more likely to leave than others, but if Biden were more successful and they felt like their community was important to the administration, they might be sticking around, mentors or no mentors.
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