One can quibble with both the terminology and some of the assumptions of a study concluding that blacks and women in Western Pennsylvania "are not well represented" in Congress, the state Legislature, mayor's offices, municipal councils and school boards.
But the numbers in a study commissioned by Sustainable Pittsburgh cannot be disputed -- and they are disheartening.
On Wednesday the 3-year-old public policy group issued a report by the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Social and Urban Research documenting the lack of gender and racial diversity among elected officials in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland counties.
For example, among the region's 43 state House members in Harrisburg, only two are black, and none of the state senators from the region is black. Of 99 city and borough mayors listed in the report, none is black (though the study apparently overlooked the African-American mayor of Wilkinsburg). Only 17 percent of mayors in the region are women.
The report laments that these numbers amount to "under-representation." This term can be misleading. There is no reason why whites in a given state, city or congressional district cannot be represented by blacks and vice versa. That said, the report is right in its general proposition that "African Americans and women are needed in decision-making positions in order for their interests to be adequately and accurately addressed."
The issue is not proportional representation, which would be not only illegal but also impractical because of population patterns, in particular congressional and legislative districts. Rather, the issue is whether a political system that is overwhelmingly white and male will have as much credibility as one in which women and minorities are more than token participants. The answer is obvious: No.
This report is a wake-up call for both political parties.
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