Dear Source:
A Virgin Islands factoid emerged this last week, as New York Times columnist Brent Staples took aim at the Republican National Convention's parade of black and Hispanic speakers and entertainers. His headline says it all: "The Republican Party's Exercise in Minstrelsy: Behind the illusion of inclusion at its National Convention."
Staples contended that behind the show of diversity, the real Republican Party remains very white, indeed, with two Yale men/oil executives as the party's candidates for the nation's two top jobs.
Further, he wrote: "The Republican National Committee, for example, has few black members, most from the Virgin Islands and only one from the mainland U.S."
The last time I looked, the Republican National Committee had a man and a woman from each state and territory. So it sounds as if it has three blacks — presumably two from the Virgin Islands and one from the largely black District of Columbia.
In contrast, Staples wrote, blacks and Hispanics make up 21 percent of the Democratic National Committee.
As one interested in the islands and in politics, I did not find any other national media references than this concerning any island politician at the Republican National Convention.
David North
Arlington, Va.
