GatewayRedbirds.com

Khalaf says that Ryan’s speech had a limited capacity, so interns were randomly selected to attend in a lottery. The interns in the picture work for congresspeople of both parties, he says.

“I don’t think this necessarily reflects poorly on Paul Ryan,” says Khalaf. “Sure, it shows his privilege and inability to see the lack of diversity. However, it’s a better representation of the fact that so many interns on the Hill are not people of color.”

RJ Khalaf, an intern under Indiana Representative Andre Carson from Washington, says Ryan's speech was part of the Congressional Summer Intern Lecture Series, and adds the picture has both Democratic and Republican interns in attendance. However, Ryan shouldn't be the one everyone is pointing the finger at. Khalaf says, "People of color just don't have access to these high level internships like internships on the hill. This is a by-product of our society. This is what we as a society have to do to make an inclusive society for all. The hill is super white, and that's just something we have to address."

jim wrote:But that's no fun so let's stick with the storyline of only white people allowed in the Republican party.

This Khalaf guy just doesn't get it: Paul Ryan is does not represent me or my thoughts so I therefore must make him a racist.

Gayne wrote, over a photo of law enforcement officials on the roof on the iconic building on the Lake Erie shore:

“Our brave snipers just waiting for some “N—- to try something. Love them.”

She used an abbreviation for the racial slur.

jim wrote:Turns out the Ryan picture is NOT a picture of Republican interns:

Paul Ryan's photograph was actually taken at an event for the 2016 Congressional Summer Intern Lecture Series, which is open to interns from both parties. While some speakers and events likely drew a greater share of Republican (or Democratic) interns than others, it's not accurate to classify this photograph as an image specifically showing all (or only) Republican interns.

RJ Khalaf, an intern for Congressman André Carson (D-Ind.), said that the photograph is more indicative of the lack of diversity on Capitol Hill as a whole rather than among one party or the other:

But that's no fun so let's stick with the storyline of only white people allowed in the Republican party.

haltz wrote:

This Khalaf guy just doesn't get it: Paul Ryan is does not represent me or my thoughts so I therefore must make him a racist.

I don't think he's saying Paul Ryan is racist. I think he's ing that Paul Ryan doesn't understand or isn't sympathetic to the systemic racism of privilege and nepotism that exists on Capitol Hill. I didn't read the article though so I might be wrong.

jim wrote:

haltz wrote:

This Khalaf guy just doesn't get it: Paul Ryan is does not represent me or my thoughts so I therefore must make him a racist.

I don't think he's saying Paul Ryan is racist. I think he's ing that Paul Ryan doesn't understand or isn't sympathetic to the systemic racism of privilege and nepotism that exists on Capitol Hill. I didn't read the article though so I might be wrong.

No of course he isn't saying Ryan is a racist, he was saying the opposite. I was being sarcastic. Other than this site I don't have any social networking site, but I'm sensing from google searches that this picture is going viral as they say. People blaming Ryan, the Republicans etc... Nobody fact checked it. What is he really supposed to do? He lectured a group of interns, and then took a picture of the people that showed up for it.

If the intern I quoted is correct, and that there are in general a lack of minorities in these types of programs, what does it say about the Democratic picture taken? Is that REALLY representative of the intern program, or did they go out of their way to make a picture that fit their agenda?