Are you suggesting only white people can be good interns?

I have been scrolling for what feels like ages until someone pointed this out. Ding Ding Ding. Not only is this about race, it’s also about class (which is inextricably tied to race in this country, but it feels incomplete to not point out one of the major reasons why this photo looks the way it does).

These aren’t all of the interns, just the ones who could get tickets to hear Paul Ryan speak at the Summer Intern Lecture series, which is open to all Hill interns. These internships do tend to skew white, but it depends on your party affiliation and the member you’re interning for. Plus, there are internship programs…

Exactly. I’m an intern there right now, and while my office is majority Latinx, I know that’s partly because of the district we work for and also because of the party affiliation (seriously, the racial breakdown of staff between the parties is striking. No prizes guessing which is even whiter than usual).

The interns are unpaid.

It’s not just a matter of unpaid internships. Congressional internships are very often based on your connections, who your daddy (and mommy) know and whose campaigns they donated to.

Yes exactly. There are a number of reasons of institutional reasons that most Capitol interns are predominately white and middle class. The unpaid (or minimally paid - I do think they actually do get a pittance for their work? Maybe they don’t, IDK) part is for sure one mechanism that can prohibit out people of less…

I think unpaid internships are one of the main ways structural inequality is reinforced in the US right now, while allowing people to pretend the US is a meritocracy. They should be illegal.

Yup. Unpaid internships should not be legal.

But...but....but... look at all the women! They are even considering thinking of (white) women as nearly equal to men kind of, as long as the shut up about the female trouble and agree with us in every way! Come on! Diversity!

I’m torn between “at least they didn’t pull her front and center to be a token” and “they couldn’t have at least put her somewhere slightly visible??”

He needs to call 1-800-blackfolk quick to add some color to his photos.I’m available nights and weekends. Cost is $1000 plus travel expenses.

Two, actually.

It is particularly problematic because for even the most entry level jobs you have to have “Capitol Hill Experience”. Meaning, the only people who have jobs as staffers were largely the same people wealthy enough to intern. So yes, your entire Congress is staffed by well-to-do, mostly white, largely upper middle…

A J Crew store in DC isn’t even this white

Exactly. Every time someone says the party is dying due to age I think of all the young Republicans I have met, some of whom have even worse beliefs than their older counterparts. While the demographics in this country might be shifting regarding ethnicity, their are still plenty of young, white people who cling to…

Sure, but the vast majority of Capitol Hill interns for the Democrats are white as well. This picture is more an indictment of the internship system than anything-you have to be financially able to work for nothing and live in DC (extremely expensive) for x-number of months. AKA have wealthy parents. That clears out…

Looking at that picture, I get a little discouraged and sad for America, While most of America is waiting for the “old angry scared white people” that tend to be Fox News. NRA and GOP’s politically slanted warriors to die away, it would appear that he has found the next upcoming crop of conservative thinkers and doers.

I see exactly one black person in this pic. To most white people like Paul Ryan this is a diverse pic.

That photo reflects the current composition of the Republican electorate: white for as far as the eyes can see.