Democracy in Color launches new Return of the Majority Roadmap

We think the new Democracy in Color strategy deserved more than just a Facebook post, as we found so much to endorse in this roadmap.  We're summarizing our reactions to the report here for our followers

The Roadmap tackles the critical failure of our political system to put in place representatives who represent the majority of the electorate, at either state or federal levels.  At Diversity Matters, we would parse this finding in two ways:  1) officials are actually elected by a minority, not a majority of voters; and 2) officials only seek to represent views and positions that benefit a small minority, rather than a majority of their constituents.  The Roadmap seeks to tackle the first issue, not the second.  One of the major pillars of the strategy is working with grassroots groups to increase voter turnout, particularly among the very large share of the electorate that does not vote.

We completely agree that we need greater voter turnout, and in particular, to turn out voters who may not participate because of barriers or disenfranchisement.  But we also need to recognize that some voters just don't see the difference between the candidates they are offered.  That's why we believe we also need to see more diverse candidates run for office.  Sometimes those candidates may be independent, or come from third parties.  So they may not immediately help to take away seats from more objectionable representatives.  We'd love to see how Democracy in Color can build this into their Roadmap.

We also are very supportive of the Roadmap's call for accountability by the DNC and other major PACs.  The Roadmap sets forth some basic demands for the PACs, including ensuring their own staff are representative of the racial and ethnic diversity of their constituents.  We would only add that it's important to consider all measures of demographic diversity, including gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability status and push candidates to represent all constituents- a politics not of identity, but of inclusion.