Biden campaign says 36% of senior staff are people of colour

Washington: Joe Biden’s campaign says a little more than a third of its senior staff are people of colour, sharing staff diversity data after facing pressure to answer questions on the issue.

The campaign said that 36 per cent of its senior staff are people of colour, but did not disclose how much of its overall campaign staff are people of colour. The campaign also noted that women are in the majority of both the campaign”s senior staff and its full staff.

The candidate has faced warnings from activists that he must be careful not to take the Black community for granted. Black voters helped deliver him the nomination, and will be key to his White House hopes this fall.

The Biden campaign released the data after the presumptive Democratic nominee was pressed at a forum on Asian American and Pacific Islander issues.

“You know, the fact of the matter is, we have a very diverse staff. And we have a diverse staff that goes across the board and high-level and senior positions. So I will make sure we release it to you, and it does include AAPI members as well as a significant number of African Americans, significant number of women and Latinos,” Biden told the moderator.

Biden has faced questions over the diversity of his staff since the Democratic primary, but the questions have reemerged in recent weeks as the nation has plunged into a discussion surrounding systemic racism and criminal justice reform.

Biden has promised his administration will “look like America,” and has pledged to choose a woman as his running mate and a black woman as his first Supreme Court nominee.