NCLR today took the president-elect to task over the absence of a single Hispanic in the Trump cabinet, top White House staff and president’s inner circle.
It is the first time in 30 years that a presidential cabinet will be without Latino representation, the organization stated. NCLR is a Hispanic civil rights and advocacy group.
According to a NCLR spokesman, it is the latest signal of the president-elect’s lack of engagement, seeming lack of interest and lack of respect for 60 million constituents and the nation’s largest minority group.
“This is not about political correctness; it is about representative democracy. The lack of Latino cabinet representation is an embarrassment on every level to the incoming administration. Any number of qualified, talented and capable Latino professionals could have been named to any cabinet post,” stated NCLR (National Council of La Raza) President and CEO Janet Murguía. “This is not just a symbolic error.”
“The president-elect has made evident since the beginning of his campaign that he lacks knowledge and awareness of the Latino community and has no real interest in establishing a relationship with a community upon whose labor and contributions America’s future greatness rests. So it is in both his interest and the country’s interest for the president to have an expert voice and the community’s perspective in his administration. To choose not to have that voice—combined with the least diverse cabinet in recent memory—exacerbates our longstanding concerns and speaks volumes about this administration’s troubling attitude on our diverse communities, who now make up more than half our country,” Murguía said.
“We have continued to look for signs of common ground and hope that President-elect Trump is sincere about his pledge to be the president for all Americans, to no avail. We remain extremely disappointed. The president-elect’s cabinet, now complete, is a clear example why we must remain vigilant in our commitment to protect and defend our community and any others not represented in the White House,” Murguía said.