Alaska: More Diverse than G.O.P. Convention

By Ken Silverstein

Sarah Palin must have felt right at home last night during her speech to the G.O.P. convention: there were almost no black people. African Americans make up only 3.7 percent of the population of Alaska. And that’s about three times higher than the percentage of African Americans at the G.O.P. convention.

“As the country rapidly diversifies, Republicans are presenting a convention that is almost entirely white,” the Washington Post reported today.

Only 36 of the 2,380 delegates seated on the convention floor are black, the lowest number since the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies began tracking diversity at political conventions 40 years ago. Each night, the overwhelmingly white audience watches a series of white politicians step to the lectern–a visual reminder that no black Republican has served as a governor, U.S. senator, or U.S. representative in the past six years.