It’s no secret: the majority of Americans are hurting right now. The COVID-19 pandemic has sounded one alarm after another, demanding that we finally acknowledge inequities in healthcare, education, housing, childcare, and employment, to name a few. While we’ve made great efforts to combat the effects of the pandemic, there are too many people in this country being left behind.
The pandemic has brought out a lot of inequities,” says Pay Our Interns co-founder Carlos Mark Vera. “Some are hurting more, and we want to help.
As the world grapples with ongoing police brutality and the call for dismantling systemic racism, demands have escalated for Congress to provide antiracist policy solutions that reverse decades of unequal treatment that has rewarded whites and punished non-whites. However, one element of congressional policymaking that is consistently overlooked is how Congress manages its own workforce. Personnel decisions about who to hire and how to manage a political workplace are all matters of policy that provide a glimpse into how Congress is itself a racialized institution.