P.O.C. Governors & In the White House

As we study the upcoming competition for personning the federal executive branch, we have been reminded that governorship, traditionally, is seen as a neat precursor to presidency. (And we have been relieved to see that the electorate has denied these ambitions to several people particularly ill-suited to heading our multicultural democracy; cf., Allen.) So. . .naturally as race is raised as increasingly significant by virtue of the presence of people of color in high positions, especially governorships, the following three items caught my attention:

Did You Know that, Historically Speaking, Deval Patrick (Massachusetts) is Black Governor Number Three? "Some sources are referring to Deval Patrick as the second African-American governor in U.S. history, which is incorrect," wrote blogger eeka. While he is "the second elected African-American governor in the United States," he is also, in all accuracy, "the third to serve."

"P.B.S. Pinchback," she noted, "served as governor of Louisiana after an impeachment."

Considering his brief governorship occurred during the year of 1872 in the South, this struck me as both fascinating and noteworthy.

And There Are Many P.O.C. in the White House: Who Are They (Representing)?
On the subject of people of color who may (or may not, or were, and now are not, but might in the future) build their presidential curricula by serving the current White House administration, Colorlines has a very critical take. What they assess to be "tokenism" doesn't, they argue, lead to amplifying the concerns of traditionally marginal groups. (See the article for a useful survey of various folks "coming up in the ranks.")

The Dangers of "Running While Brown." Clearly the hideline below reveals its own critique, highly relevant to our perusal of governorship as presidential precursor. (Link to the site that "cites" this article.)