'My blackness makes me unqualified?' Jasmine Crockett rips GOP at jobs hearing
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) confronted a Republican plan to diminish diverse hiring practices if a GOP presidential candidate wins in 2024.
During a Wednesday House Oversight hearing on federal employment, Crockett noted that some of her Republican colleagues appeared to be echoing Project 2025, which aims to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices in the federal government.
"The agenda includes making sure that the next conservative administration dismantles DEI apparatus by eliminating various chief diversity officer positions," she explained to a witness. "And you engaged in an exchange earlier with one of my colleagues, and I don't know if you recall, but it was hitting me a little differently as a Black woman sitting here."
"Because it almost seemed as if you either get diversity or you get qualifications," she continued. "It did not seem as if my colleague understood that someone can be diverse and qualified."
Crockett said that Republican arguments against diversity in the workplace made her "very frustrated" because of her personal qualifications.
ALSO READ: NFL drafts Capitol Hill staffers for lobbying retreat
"I hold an honorary doctorate," she noted. "I also hold a juris doctorate. I also hold a bachelor's. I also technically hold the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Civil Air Patrol and I actually practiced law for almost two decades, in addition to serving on various boards, in addition to being a prior state lawmaker."
"There are those that would make some people believe that because I happen to be Black and/or a woman, that somehow, even though I can rattle off all the qualifications in the world, my blackness makes me unqualified."
Office of Personnel Management Acting Director Robert H. Shriver insisted that the Biden administration was aggressively pursuing diversity in the workplace.
"What we do at OPM every day is look to knock down barriers that are keeping qualified people like yourself, qualified people from all across America, from pursuing federal jobs," he said.
Watch the video clip below from House Oversight.
Correction: An earlier version of this story identified Crockett as a Republican. She is a Democrat.