Two groups representing African-American and Hispanic professionals have sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump calling on him to be conscious of diversity when filling positions within his administration.
"Congratulations on your win in yesterday's historic election," the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and the Latino Victory Foundation said in their letter Wednesday. "We were heartened by the opening words in your victory speech."
The letter then quoted these words from Trump's speech early Wednesday: "Now is the time for America to bind the wounds of division.
"To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people."
In response, the Washington-based organizations said "we are writing to accept your offer to work with you to help ensure the future success of our nation.
"Specifically, we would like to work with you to identify strong candidates of color for federal appointments."
The groups represent more than 75 organizations comprising African-American and Hispanic professionals nationwide — serving as talent banks that seek to "increase racial diversity in federal appointments."
According to the letter, the White House appoints more than 6,000 positions, including 1,600 senior appointments.
Those appointees supervise more than two million people overall and manage budgets totaling over $3.5 trillion, the organizations said.
While African Americans and Latinos total nearly 30 percent of the U.S. population, they represented "only 8.7 percent of appointees in the last full non-election year of the George W. Bush Administration," according to the letter.
The groups did not include information on African-American and Latino appointments in the Obama White House.
But a McClatchy report cited a 2015 study by the University of California at Berkeley Law School that found, of the 80 top policy positions that required Senate confirmation, 53.5 percent of were filled with women and minorities during Obama's administration.
That compared with 25.6 percent during George W. Bush's presidency and 37.5 percent in the Bill Clinton White House.
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