It seems the experts on diversity can be just as myopic as their adversaries. With the withdrawal of numerous candidates hoping to be the Democratic nominee for president, commentators are bemoaning the lack of diversity among the remaining contenders. All they can talk about are two aging white men going head-to-head until the convention in Milwaukee (“2020 Vice President odds: Who are good bets to be Democratic VP pick?” March 8).
Perhaps they can start talking about a candidate still in the running — Tulsi Gabbard. Ms. Gabbard is a woman, born in Samoa, an elected official from Hawaii, a veteran from the Iraq war and a Hindu. For the diversity numbers crunchers, she embodies a perfect fit. Woman of color, native of a marginalized territory, the only candidate left (unlike Donald Trump, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders) to have directly experienced warfare, and she embraces a religion no previous candidate has even recognized.
If diversity also extends to character and political outlook, Ms. Gabbard is a forthright and independent thinker. She has sat with Fox News and Reason magazine to discuss her views and the reasons behind them. For not toeing the Democratic Party line, she has been slandered as a Russian agent by Hillary Clinton and ridiculed by liberals for her “present” utterance when it came time to vote on the impeachment of President Trump. She is also the only Democratic candidate to consider the national legalization of drugs and condemn the fact that the United States has the largest prison population in the world.
When meeting voters at town meetings or school auditoriums, you do not see her shaking her fists in constant self-righteous outrage and promising free everything. You will not find her stumbling over her words or making up moments about her past that she was arrested by police in South Africa while protesting with Nelson Mandela. What you find is a thoughtful human being who listens to the concerns of ordinary citizens and attempts to address them with candor.
Diversity experts have their own blinders. If they are truly interested in diversity, they should stop whining about a Biden-Sanders showdown and actively encourage the candidacy of Tulsi Gabbard. Give her a chance to appear on the debates, listen to her views — even if you disagree. At least she will push us to think about her ideas as well as our own.
Alexander E. Hooke, Baltimore
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