The Campaign Against Biden's Cabinet Picks of Color Is Depressingly Familiar
This week, as the U.S. Senate began the nomination hearings for President Biden’s Cabinet nominees, I saw a familiar pattern develop. Regardless of their actual record and without even having a chance to discuss it, nominees of color, such as Deb Haaland, Neera Tanden, and Xavier Becerra, have been painted as “famously partisan” people with “radical” ideas.
This is not the first time I’ve noticed such a trend. At the height of the 2020 election, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s name was frequently invoked as a foe in ads for Republican candidates in races across the country, an obvious boogeywoman the GOP could point to in order to scare its constituents into voting red. The reason AOC was targeted, other than her high name recognition, was clear to those who pay close attention to electoral politics.
“It is easier strategically to cue conceptions of extremism with those who bring with them identities that don’t represent what has been the norm in terms of political power,” Kelly Dittmar, director of research and a scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics, told me at the time. Haaland, Tanden, and Becerra all would make history if confirmed to their posts. Haaland would be the first Native American to become interior secretary, Tanden would be the first Indian American person to lead the Office of Management and Budget, and Becerra would be the first Latino secretary of Health and Human Services.
I can’t help but think that people of color are once again being held to impossibly high standards by opportunistic partisans.
https://gen.medium.com/the-campaign-against-bidens-cabinet-picks-of-color-is-depressingly-familiar-cf4f0466538e
= new reply since forum marked as read
