Founding Director, William “Sandy” Darity, discussed the potential racial and social harms of a nearly all white presidential cabinet on the Tavis Smiley Podcast. He acknowledges that while representation matters, it does not inherently guarantee policies that advance equity.
I don’t think that visual representation is a sufficient basis for making a judgement about any body of decision makers, the real questions is the substance of what they are inclined to do as opposed to the way in which they look”.
The deeper concern, he argues, lies in the administration’s ideological foundations and the extent that its policies uphold white supremacy.
Is there reason to be concerned about this particular cabinet, or this process of national leadership? The answer is of course yes because this is a presidential administration that came to power on the rhetoric of white supremacy and I see no evidence that they will not continue to pursue an agenda that supports the continuity of white supremacy”.
Darity’s more pressing questions and unease arise from the dwindling prospects of a federal reparations program with the current administration.
One of the things I am very concerned about is what looks like the closing of the door on the prospects of reparations for Black American descendants of slavery. There was insufficient support for that in the Democratic party but I think that the degree of support for it in the Republican party is even markedly lower. So the prospects for achieving a comprehensive reparation program have smallened further”.
Listen to the full episode here: William “Sandy” Darity joins Tavis Smiley