Rep. Conyers Wants AID Official Demoted for Lack of Black Staff

After the Congressional Black Caucus met with Rajiv Shah, the AID coordinator overseeing State's relief efforts in Haiti, Rep. John Conyers sent a letter to Hillary Clinton demanding Shah's demotion for showing up with no black members on his aid team.

From The Hill via Michelle Malkin comes the news that Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) has sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton requesting that Raviv Shah, the AID official coordinating the State Department's relief efforts in Haiti, be demoted from his official position at AID for showing up at a Congressional Black Caucus meeting on Haiti with a twelve-member team lacking black staff members. Here is the text of Rep. Conyers' letter to Clinton:

Dear Secretary Clinton:

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 (sic) 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.

I look forward to meeting with you on this matter.

Sincerely,

John Conyers, Jr.

Member of Congress

Rep. Conyers is scheduled to lead a delegation to Haiti today. It will be his first trip to the devastated island since the earthquake. Ironically, team leader Rajiv Shah, whom Conyers wants demoted, is of Indian descent and is himself considered a minority under EEOC guidelines. Mr. Shah also became the highest-ranking Indian-American in any presidential administration with his appointment to the AID post last December 24. Rep. Conyers has often been accused by his detractors of being obsessed with race. In 1989 he submitted H.R. 40, a House bill mandating nearly a trillion dollars in reparations for African-Americans over slavery, a measure even President Obama opposes. Conyers has submitted that bill for 21 straight years, where it has always died in Committee. His wife Monica, a Detroit City Council member, has also made news with her own racial remarks and actions. She was widely condemned last March for what many considered a racist outburst against a white Teamster official during a contentious hearing on a city construction project, and also advised all white people present at the hearing to "go home."