Black Author of New Book Says U.S. Senate acts Like a 'Racist Institution'

Black Author of New Book Says U.S. Senate acts Like a 'Racist Institution'

NEW YORK, June 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a new survey revealing the poor internal racial hiring practices of the U.S. Senate offices, black historian and author Lawrence Otis Graham says the U.S. Senate displays some of the same racist attitudes it embraced a century ago.

Graham, author of the new book, "The Senator and The Socialite" (HarperCollins), a biography of the first black Senator, says, "It is outrageous enough that this nation will only elect one black person to the U.S. Senate, but it is a true disgrace that the Senators, themselves, are unwilling to hire blacks and other minorities to run or assist in their offices." Graham points to a new study showing that 94% of the Senate employees are white and not a single one of the 100 Senators has a black person in a chief of staff leadership post.

"Nothing has changed on the Senate side of the Capitol building since 1874 when Senator Blanche Bruce became the first black elected to a full Senate term," adds Graham, who became well-known several years ago when he left his law firm and exposed racism and anti-Semitism at an all-white Greenwich, Connecticut country club. "There was 1 black in the Senate then, and there's still only 1 black there today. And none of the Senators seem to really care about that level of racial exclusion."

"Diversity Inc. Magazine's" current issue surveyed the staffs of all 100 Senators and rated the Senate the worst employer for racial diversity. Graham's recent letter-writing campaign offers further proof of the Senators' disinterest in diversity. "In the spring, I wrote to all 100 Senators," says Graham, "asking if any would help honor Senator Blanche Bruce with a postage stamp since the U.S. Postal Service has never placed a black elected official on a stamp in their 159 year history of issuing stamps-yet they have issued stamps for many white Senators, the first woman Senator, the first Hispanic Senator, as well as Confederates. Not a single Senator has responded to my request. The general message from these surveys is that the Senators don't want multi-racial Senate staffs, and they don't care a bit about a black man's service there."

Graham's new book, which is being serialized in "Reader's Digest" and "U.S. News & World Report," reveals the racial challenges faced by black Republican, Senator Bruce, after he rose from Mississippi slave to U.S. Senator.

Graham says the 2006 year elections offer a chance for the Senate and the nation to prove that racial attitudes have changed since Senator Bruce was elected in 1874. "For the first time in U.S. history, there are black Republicans and black Democrats running for the Senate in Maryland, Tennessee, Michigan, and Mississippi," adds Graham. "I only hope the voters in these states care more about racial fairness than the 100 Senators that are now sitting placidly in Washington."

http://www.lawrenceotisgraham.com/

Source: Lawrence Otis Graham

CONTACT: Lawrence Otis Graham, +1-914-238-4000

Web site: http://www.lawrenceotisgraham.com/

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