There Are No White-Americans in Congress.

I was watching C-SPAN-2 and an on-going vote on the Senate floor, and noticed from the live feed of the deliberations that I could point out Senators Kerry and DeLay. Then I heard the speaker call out Senator Obama. I pumped my fist up for the Democratic senator from Illinois. However, when I looked out of the floor, I couldn’t find him. As a matter of fact I couldn’t find any non-white senators in the shot. Granted the shot wasn’t inclusive of every single corner of the senate hall, but I thought, wow! Isn’t the senate supposed to be representative of America?


Of course what I posit is an over-simplification of the senator election process. Each state gets two senators. Based of the demographics of the United States, most of the senators should be over 30, white and male. That's also means all the presidents have been and for the near future (i.e. through 2020) should be over 35, white and male. So essentially, the leadership of the United States is white and male. Ergo the face of America is that of a middle-aged, white male.

Then I asked my wife if there were any Whites in the Nigerian National Assembly (the Nigerian congress). She told me there weren't. I asked, not even White Nigerians? She said no. I asked my sister the same question. Her response delved a bit deeper, differentiating between being born Nigerian or being naturalized Nigerian. She felt that at the National Assembly level, like at the US President level, being a citizen by birth ought to be a requirement. Her point was that one shouldn't just be able to stroll into the country and ascend to a such a high post without some sort of civic and political tenure.

When I reflected on my conversation, I noticed something deeper. It would never occur to most Nigerians or anyone familiar with the demographics of Nigeria, to asked whether 'White Nigerians' held any high political perches of power. To them, to be Nigerian is to be black. Like water being wet, it's inherent. No one would dare dispute it, without risking ridicule or at least a quizzical reaction of some sort.

So, we know there are Whites in congress, and we also know that there are Americans in congress. But are there any White-Americans?