LOS ANGELES – A coalition of Black activists have signed onto a letter requesting the creation of the ‘Tom Bradley Rule’ in the City of Los Angeles to ensure Black applicants are considered for roles throughout the elected official’s district offices.
“It’s important that African-Americans be able to work and provide for their families just as everyone needs to do,” said Najee Ali, who is spearheading the effort. “The lack of Black staffers, in council offices, highlights the hypocrisy of the people in leadership, who spoke out about racist conversations, as they should have, but don’t have any African-American’s on their staff.”
Ali says creating this rule ensures there is equity in hiring by the current body of elected officials with noted activists such as Rev. K.W. Tullos, Robert Sausedo (Community Build), and Michael Lawson (LA Urban League) signing on with their full support.
The Tom Bradley Rule would be similar to the NFL’s Rooney Rule which mandates teams interview Black coaches for open positions.
The letter reads “…Tom Bradley not only made history as the first African-American mayor of Los Angeles but his tenure was highlighted by the diversity in hiring in his office…”
This follows efforts made by the AAPI Equity Alliance who are creating a “resume bank” to encourage the hiring of more Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) by elected officials.
“We hope that ultimately we get more AAPI elected officials but until then we at least want to see more diverse staff,” said Hoang Nguyen.
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