Bush Has only Half as Many Top-Level Blacks as Clinton

Despite the high visibility of Secretary of State Colin Powell, only 3.3 percent of the State Department's senior executives -- three Black males and three Black females -- are among the 170 senior-level executives at the U. S. State Department, according to records obtained by the NNPA News Service from the U. S. Office of Personnel Management.  "It's extremely unfortunate and unacceptable that even though the highest ranking person at the State Department is African-American, that there are not more African-Americans in senior level positions," says Hilary Shelton, director of the Washington Bureau of the NAACP. "Indeed, there are extremely well-qualified African-Americans; yet, they have not been sought and they have not been brought up through the ranks. It is this that creates the lack of credibility of this State Department around the world." District of Columbia Delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, chair of the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EEOC) under Jimmy Carter, says the problem is not limited to the State Department.  "The top of the government is still layered with White males," she says. . [more]