A not-so-funny thing happened on the way to a joke...

  

Renée Koubiadis and I went to see a stand-up comedy routine this week by a New Jersey Assemblyperson who doubles as a stand-up comic. It was a humorous routine, poking fun at a lot of cultural issues and political themes, but the more interesting comment was made by the comedy club's proprietor who was the opening act. As part of his routine getting acquainted with the crowd, the lead-in comic made a few typical comedy statements about the members of the audience and asked at one point "if there were any black people here tonight." After a minute or so he realized that there was not a single person of color in the crowd.

Normally this might have passed unnoticed, but it was a telling statement about the audience of the featured performer and the type of patron that is a supporter of this person's political party. At a time when the loudest voices in this massive field of candidates running for President are constantly offering racist, anti-immigrant rhetoric, the absence of people of color in an audience of one political party sends a loud message.

We are occasionally asked why we endorse more candidates from one party than another in our PACE endorsements. This is one of the reasons. It is incumbent on the members of either party - when their prospective leaders spout hateful, harmful rhetoric - to speak out loudly and clearly that they do not agree, that they do not support, that they will not tolerate such divisive language from the spokespersons of their party. As Social Workers, we know the harm that is done by such language, and we will, as your professional Association, do our best to assure that those who speak such words, and those who support them, will not be the people who legislate the future of America.