Blacks in Congress seek more diversity on Sunday talk shows
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are asking the Sunday morning talk shows to add more minorities to their guest lists.
An article in the congressional newspaper The Hill carries this quote from U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., the chairwoman of the Black Caucus:
“I’m not pleased at all with the diversity issue as it relates to talk shows. We have, what, 17 subcommittee chairs and four full-committee chairmen? These members are brilliant; they know their stuff. They’re powerful and they should be part of the Sunday morning talk shows.”
Reporter Mike Soraghan of the Hill writes:
Rep. G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), secretary of the CBC, calls himself a “fan” of the Sunday shows, but said he’d like to see change.
“The morning talk shows need to increase the number of African-Americans,” Butterfield said. “Not only for diversity, but it would also be good for the ratings.”
The comments come three years after a study found a striking lack of black participants on the shows. The original study was completed before Democrats took over Congress in the 2006 elections, which put many more black and Hispanic lawmakers into positions of power.
But some legislators say that hasn’t been reflected on the shows.
Lee said the CBC, composed of 41 House members and Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.), is working on the issue and has been in communication with the producers of the shows.
Later in Soraghan’s article:
Roll Call tracks lawmakers’ appearances. The CBC member with the most appearances this year is Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), with two. The only other CBC member on the list is House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), who appeared once on “Fox News Sunday.” No Hispanic members are on the list.
This past weekend, not one minority lawmaker appeared on the Sunday shows. All seven of those who appeared are white and six are male. A majority of the Congress is composed of white males.
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Steve Parker is the deputy managing editor for news, and oversees the Post-Dispatch's front page. STLtoday's online news editors are on his newsroom team. Parker has been at the paper since September 1980. 
Clyde, my NHL post was completely tongue-in-cheek, and I would agree that a boycott by those groups wouldn’t even register with anyone.
To be serious for a moment, I didn’t think about considering how many people have been asked and refused to appear. That was a good point by those that made it. Goes back to the traffic ticket discussion we had a couple of weeks ago. It’s never good to draw conclusions on numbers without having enough information on how, why, when, and by who was involved.
Clyde, your point is also a valid one. I think for my own self my hypocrisy at this is due mostly because of the crowd that is complaining about it…politicians wanting more face time. To me, this is not a real critical area in terms of equality and justice. Your point is still a good one, although I wonder why other groups (Hispanics, Asians, etc) don’t feel the need to complain about it.
The question should be is what is the correlation between the number of minorities in the percentage of minority officials to the number on the talk shows? Actually it surprises me that the liberal/socialist regimes at ABC, CBS, and NBC don’t have more. People want to complain about Fox News, but they have quite a few guests who are minorities and women, but nobody ever mentions that. My guess is if there was money to be made, the majors would increase their participation. Kind of hypocritic isn’t it. Results are based on actions, not words. But, liberals who tend to be of average intelligence at best, just don’t get it.
Rep. G.K. Butterfiled is the prime idiot. “Good for ratings?” What, does he think they all have that Will Smith draw?
This just in: It has been discovered that there is a severe lack of black announcers, coaches, players, owners, general managers, and fans at all NHL games. This disparity must be corrected at once! A national boycott will surely be called soon by the Black Caucaus, NCAAP, UNCF, ACORN, and Bad Boy Records…
— Tim
I don’t think that the lack of involvement of the African American community or Hispanics in Hockey has much to do with the need to dominate yet another sport. I’m guessing that the economy and economic repression of these groups has more to do with it.
You don’t need a huge financial committment to nail a hoop to a wall and play basketball. Baseball requires a field and someone needs to have a ball, same with football. Hockey and golf are different. There’s a huge financial committment to raise a hockey player.
As the playing field becomes more just, thanks to affirmative action, we are likely to see, in the future, more African Americans and Hispanics involved in these sports. And, quotes like the one above will likely be less funny, to some.
Jellio, since you feel to take my comments way past their intended realm, what about soccer? Cost is a reason it became the world’s sport in even the poortest of countries. What about swimming?
I don’t think you realize that football is also a very expensive sport. It’s not much different than a youth hockey program. The cost to play either at a young age is very comparable. And yes, I do know from when I was a kid AND with my kids today.
If you become good at any sport and start needing your own gear, start traveling to tournaments, and so forth, than any sport can become expensive.
I don’t disagree with the economic disadvantage blacks are in as a group compared to whites, but your apparent lack of insight into youth sports and their associated costs makes your comments somewhat humorous, to some…
I find it ironic that the congressional BLACK caucus is calling for diversity…
Maybe slavery reparations could be packaged as appearances on the Sunday talk shows. There could even be residuals paid for reruns! Meanwhile, it would bump all those white blowhards (Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Charles Schumer, Pat Leahy, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, Diane Feinstein, etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum) off the air.
Boy, talk about your win-win situation.
Merc Man- Although I agree not seeing Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Charles Schumer, Pat Leahy, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer, and Diane Feinstein on Sunday morning political talk shows for a few weeks would be a refreshing change, but your comment about slavery reparations is really short sided (I am glad to see that you were joking). However, with the Senate’s passing of legislation apologizing for slavery and discrimination, this country could use a few Sundays full of discussion of race and diversity in American society today. It is a topic that is quickly glossed over in the media, especially since we have a bi-racial white guy as the President. Reading other postings, prior to yours, I can tell there is a great need for a serious discussion about race and white privilege and their effects on how our society operates today.
How do we make up for 234+ years of discrimination in America? Today’s legislation specifically discussed African Americans, but what about the American Indians? Personally, I think it is something we will never get over, especially when those in positions of power do not think we have a problem.
Clyde- I agree with you whole heartedly. It is easy to put down the underrepresented of our nation and keep them down. So what harm would it do to ask more minority lawmakers to be on Sunday morning talk shows? If they fail to represent their issues well, and the host is seen by audience as having won the discussion, what harm would it do?
There is no diversity here! Anyone that expresses an opinion that does not agree with what is being pushed here is deleted. I do not agree with what is being pushed here at all.
Why is it that white people simply cannot have a program, game, commercial, that shows only whites without blacks wanting a part of it, or start a protest that it is racist not to have at least 50% black guests? Now they want more show time on a white panel? If its my show, and I’m the host, and I don’t want your black input which will always turn around to include the plight of the blacks in this country, and wanting something for free, then its my right as owner and host NOT to have you on the show!!! If they want that kind of exposure then start your own talk show and have only blacks as guests! Apparently that would be too much work so they would rather feed off whitey instead. And, you are absolutely correct VT, if the debate issues here are inserted by white people that disagree with what the blacks are spewing, they DO get deleted! That would indicate to me that the author, Steve Parker, is black! So, this blog is slanted towards giving blacks the edge? How biased is that? If you want change then everyone is going to have to change, not just white people! In my opinion that isn’t ever going to happen - blacks cannot adjust and don’t want to adjust because then THEY would have to give something back, and giving is not part of their program - it’s taking!!!