When I saw the headline “U.S. Congressman asks Clinton to 
demote Rajiv Shah,” I thought that the USAID director had done something seriously wrong. Perhaps Shah had bungled the U.S. relief efforts in Haiti, sending too much rice but not enough beans. Or perhaps he had handed a reconstruction job to an Indian-American Contractor who doesn’t do any contracting. But no, nothing of that sort.
U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Detroit) is calling on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to demote the official coordinating relief efforts in Haiti, Dr. Rajiv Shah, for a lack of diversity on his staff. [Link]
In his letter to Clinton, Conyers wrote: “As you know, the 42 member Congressional Black Caucus met with Rajiv Shah, the Administrator of the U.S. AID yesterday to discuss the crisis in Haiti. I was alarmed and chagrined to learn that none of the approximately dozen staff he brought with him were African American. This is so serious an error in judgement that it warrants his immediate demotion to a subordinate position at AID. It is well known that there has long been an under-representation of minorities in key positions within the State Department. I am confident this Administration will immediately begin addressing this problem.” [Source: The Hill]
Poor Shah. Perhaps someone had told him that he’d be appearing in front of the Congressional White Caucus. Perhaps he was under the mistaken belief that race doesn’t matter much in 2010, that he just has to surround himself with qualified people. Or perhaps he took his resemblance to Obama a little too seriously and forgot to speak with the right dialect.
Sweet Jeebus, Conyers is an ass.
sigh
I call for the immediate demotion of John Conyers for reinforcing the stereotype that every posse must contain members from the hood.
“Rajiv Shah Hates Black People”
demotion b/c his staff doesn’t contain an African American? I can understand him encouraging the committee to have a black member but demoting Shah? Conyers seems a little off – I remember he wrote a letter to Obama saying that Gupta should not be surgeon general which may be a coincidence or just his desire to make sure it is African American diverse or black diverse.
Seriously I’m so disappointed in Conyers b/c I’d had a good impression of him and read about him as a civil rights activist.
No doubt Conyers and I would disagree about affirmative action in this country.
rahul, why do you think african american representation equals representation from the hood?
Why? Why do you think there are no Af-Ams in the neighborhood?
Good question cm.
How would Rahul and his ilk respond if whites say that indian american representation equals representation from India’s slums? I am guessing that Rahul has been called a slumdog too many times and is trying to pass on the hate…..
Maybe Conyers, a black, has succumbed to how Africans have come to hate all Indians.
Alright, I am offended. Really offended. How DARE you presume that there are others of my ilk? I am one of a kind, and you’d better realize that.
P.S: In any case, before this gets out of hand, I’d suggest that people address their anemic sense of humor and their irony deficiency by acquainting themselves with the use of techniques such as parody and overstatement in the funnies. It especially seemed appropriate in response to Conyers’ hysterical overreaction.
john conyers ; needs to do something about the lack of indian representation in the rap game.
I’m glad Conyers has been able to spot the REAL tragedy of Haiti.
If there was like 100 or so people going and no black people, he might have a point. Might. But a dozen?
All too much
This I have not experienced.
is this really a controversy? do we really need to be discussing this? what are the black groups saying about christian missionary child trafficking in the third world? don’t the missionaries do the same thing in india as well? don’t they have a long history of this kind of thing? Does Rajiv Shah have any balls to effectively curtail predatory missionary behavior in nonwhite societies or is he just another pretty face? This is the real controversy about Haiti right now. Say it with me slowly: Christian Adoption scam.
Really? Moreso than the 100s of millions of dead and homeless people?
oy, kashani, are you jealous your vhp/rss isn’t able to get in on the game?
i think conyers was taken aback by the size of shah’s staff, and lets face it, given the variety of positions available, its hard to see how not even one af-am was on it. he was right to appeal to clinton, who was famous for offering a lot of different people a chance to sit on the presidential staff, though some ended up blowing it.
Hell yeah! The scam is that adopted children were sent to Haiti. How do you think 100’s of millions are dead & homeless in a country whose entire population was less than 10 million before the earthquake?
so hurricane katrina was a scandal but the abrasive neocon response was insignificant . and the tsuanmi was similarly a scandal but not the boatloads of fob missionaries descending to play similar gimmicks with poor people. if only natural disasters are discussion worthy, maybe we should open up our geology manuals instead of discussing rajiv shah’s obama looks, no?
So Obama lovers – like a taste of your own meds?
Clinton would do well to heed Conyers, a man with spotless ethics. He is Detroit’s representative, and with everybody racing to move there, he’s sure to be ever more powerful in the future. And at a sprightly 80 years old, he’s got quite a future ahead of him!
I’m not sure if this is the right place, but the comments on the “South African Indians Prefer Apartheid” thread aren’t showing up.
Watching from the sideline and just loving this post and the reactions.
Not quite yet. United States is still a lot like India with it’s “reservations” and TamBrahms having to flee Tam coz they can’t get placed, due to said reservations.
Anyway, someday people will be judged and placed based on merit alone, I suppose. But for right now, it’s still based on percentages of skin tone and the like.
Speaking of the “negro dialect”… when Obama turns that on, it sounds really fake. I can do better and I’m not even Black (but I’m southern, that’s why).
“So Obama lovers – like a taste of your own meds?”
Hear, hear. This same isht was pulled with the whole Hillary(D-Punjab) and against the Big Dog going as far as painting them as racists. Conyers and his ilk are azzhats of the highest order and made an equally asinine statement about Sanjay Gupta during the Surgeon General episode. Also lets not forget that he represents Dearborn and probably everyday hears that the world is being ruined by Honky Hinjews.
Well if you are the typical tambram from south India to a typical american white you are black (with wavy hair)….
Lol. Dude get help. No one sees hindus as honkys. Look in the fricking mirror…
Last time I checked the israeli jewish tourists to India have a reputation for treating the native hindus like an inferior species not as fellow “hinjews”…..
@Murthy
You can’t be that dense. Stick to lol’ing on AOL.
conyers needs to stop pointing fingers – his family is not the best judge of character – google his wife Monica and the detroit bribery case.
Ha. Ha. I met “Southern” as in hillbilly. …. y’all.
Hey yall,
I’m African American, but Conyers is tripping. I think he’s just jealous because so many young people are in power now, and his era is over. And demoted? Thats crazy. Its nice to see a person of color (no matter what ethnicity) in those types of positions. Conyers needs to sit his old @$$ down….
but I digress