New Report: Maintaining White Male Privilege in NYC Government?
An Analysis of Mayor de Blasio's Political Appointments 2014-2016
To download the full report, click here
Is New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's Administration too white and male? In a detailed analysis of de Blasio's political appointments since taking office in 2014, the National Institute for Latino Policy raises concerns about the underrepresentation of people of color and White women in de Blasio's government. The report challenges de Blasio's progressive credentials in making the case that as a "majority minority" city, with over two-thirds of its population being people of color, their marginalization in his Administration's staff and his failure to address this problem are unacceptable.
"While Mayor de Blasio gives the impression of greater diversity in his Administration," Angelo Falcón, President of the Institute and author of the report point out, "our analysis of the facts reveals a hiring record that reflects a serious problem of White male privilege at the expense of the city's communities of color and White women." This report, "Maintaining White Male Privilege in NYC Government: The Role of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in NYC Mayor de Blasio's Appointments," is based on a review of 613 publically-announced appointments made by Mayor de Blasio from January 2014 to February 2, 2016.
Among the key findings:
- While Whites make up 33 percent of the city's population, they comprise 61 percent of de Blasio's appointments.
- While women are a majority of the White population, they make up only 43 percent of de Blasio's appointment of Whites to his Administration.
- The city's agencies are extremely racially segregated, creating unnecessary intergroup tensions.
- In agencies where people of color are significant numbers, there is a serious problem blocking of their upward mobility to leadership positions in those few agencies.
The report offers a series of common sense recommendations to address this problem that did not resort to the use of quotas, but, rather, focus on strengthening the city government's various diversity employment programs. This analysis finds these diversity efforts by the city to be too passive, fragmented and unfocused.
"Unfortunately, Mayor de Blasio's response to these problems has been either just to apply Band-Aids," Falcón explains. "As we release this report, the Mayor just announced, in reaction, 17 new members of the now unwieldy and powerless 33-member NYC Young Men's Initiative (YMI) Advisory Board made up primarily of people of color. This." Falcón points out, "has been his strategy of projecting an illusion of inclusion to head off immediate criticism. He promised real change, not just such a reactive 'sprinkling; of diversity, and the city's communities of color and women are still waiting."
The National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP) is a nonpartisan policy center established in 1982 that focuses on Latino issues. The Institute publishes the influential national online information service, The NiLP Report on Latino Policy & Politics. NiLP has been monitoring the responsiveness of New York City government to the needs of the Latino community since the Koch Administration. For further information, visit our website at www.latinopolicy.org.
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The NiLP Report on Latino Policy & Politics is an online information service provided by the National Institute for Latino Policy. For further information, visit www.latinopolicy. org. Send comments to editor@latinopolicy.org.