EIGHT OF MASSACHUSETTS’S nine members of the US House of Representatives have signed a letter to State House leaders in support of a group of Beacon Hill staff members of color, who demanded reforms to create a more inclusive environment for diverse staffers.
“As members of the Massachusetts Congressional delegation, we stand in solidarity with these staffers and affirm Beacon BLOC’s demands for greater inclusion and equity in the workplace,” the members wrote.
The letter was spearheaded by Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Joe Kennedy and signed by Reps. Richard Neal, Jim McGovern, William Keating, Katherine Clark, Seth Moulton and Lori Trahan. The only member of the state’s all-Democratic House congressional delegation not to sign was Rep. Stephen Lynch.
The letter was addressed to House Speaker Robert DeLeo, Senate President Karen Spilka, and Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin, whose office oversees Beacon Hill lobbyists. It was set to be sent to them on Friday.
In July, a new group calling itself Beacon BLOC, for Building Leaders of Color, released a four-page letter in which they said they have all faced “hostile moments of thinly veiled (if not overt) racism” on Beacon Hill.
They asked the Legislature to create a central office on diversity, equity, and inclusion; to establish a standardized staff orientation process; to create a mechanism for reporting racial harassment and discrimination; and to suspend lobbying privileges for workplace misconduct. The group called for a paid internship program and for civic engagement programs that aim to recruit diverse staff. They also demanded some things that go beyond workplace conditions, like asking that the state library and State House cultural displays adequately represent black history.
In August, the group announced that they had support from 40 organizations – including unions, faith groups, and civil rights groups –– and 300 current or former staffers. The letter from the members of Congress says they, too, support the reforms proposed by the Beacon BLOC.
The congressional letter says that as the nation is facing a reckoning on race, and communities are calling for a dismantling of racist policies, “It is critical that in this moment, every institution, particularly institutions of power charged with crafting the very laws and policies that govern our Commonwealth and our country, look inward and examine their own contributions to the persistent inequities plaguing our communities.”
The members note that of 200 seats in the Massachusetts House and Senate, only 20 are held by people of color.
“The lack of diversity at the staff level is felt daily by current and former staff of color,” they wrote. “Their experiences are dismissed and incidents of harassment not necessarily handled appropriately as the State House lacks the adequate infrastructure to measure issues related to diversity and retention.”
The group also expressed concern “about retaliatory consequences that threaten additional staff of color from being vocal about their concerns and experiences within the Massachusetts Legislature.”
So far, two of the group’s demands – a legislative paid internship program and an evaluation of State House art with an eye toward diversity – were proposed as Senate budget amendments, but did not pass.
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Original story here.