Jeff Johnson Breaks Down Joe Biden’s Diverse Cabinet [WATCH]

Here Are All The Black People In Joe Biden’s Cabinet And His Most Senior Advisers

UPDATED: 2:50 p.m. ET, Jan. 15, 2021: The promise to have a cabinet that “looks like America” has been more than kept by Joe Biden. In fact, it’s been all but a mandate as the president-elect is set to have the most diverse group of executive branch leaders and presidential advisers in U.S. history. And while history is being made on a number of fronts for the esteemed group – a record number of women have been named, for instance — Biden’s commitment to making it a point of emphasis to designate Black people for powerful and influential positions has been nothing short of impressive. Oh, did we mention that Biden also has the shrewd political — and legal — expertise of a Black woman vice president to lean on? Kamala Harris is expected to play an outsized role in Biden’s administration in a departure from the subtle functions traditionally expected from vice presidents. Biden had to fill more than four dozen roles, from his chief of staff through the U.S. attorney general, neither of whom is Black. But at the same time, Biden has put multiple Black people in a position to make history and work in capacities that, if done well, can not only make a serious difference but will also do so at a time when their consequential roles are arguably needed more than ever by the U.S. government. [caption id="attachment_4078091" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Source: OLIVIER DOULIERY / Getty[/caption] In other words, Biden didn’t just nominate another Black person to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, an office that many presidents have relegated to African Americans. Yes, did name a Black person to lead HUD. But reduce his choice would be short-sighted in this particular case — especially since he named one of the most impressive Black leaders America has today. Marcia Fudge is no Ben Carson. Making the moment a bit more significant is the fact that Biden served as second in command to the nation’s first Black president, heightening expectations — whether fair or not — for multiple African Americans to serve in key cabinet roles. And for all the Black people Biden nominated for Biden’s cabinet or named as his top advisers, there were many, many others who were also under consideration. Household names like Stacey Abrams, whose voting rights organization Fair Fight’s groundwork in Georgia helped flipping the state blue for the first time in 30 years with election results that all but sewed up Biden’s historic election. She is also widely credited with helping to secure this month’s runoff elections that gave Democrats the edge in the U.S. Senate. However, it’s been reported she has her sights set on avenging her gubernatorial loss in 2018 when she fell victim to a massive Republican-led voter suppression effort. Other familiar names of Black people Biden reportedly considered for his cabinet include, but certainly were not limited to Jeh Johnson, the former secretary of Homeland Security under President Barack Obama, and former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick. But Biden also reportedly considered Black people for high-profile jobs despite their lack of immediate name recognition.  For instance, Darrell Blocker, who has more than 30 of experience in the U.S. intelligence community, specializes in counterterrorism, security and intelligence, with a focus on Africa, Iran and North Korea, and has served in 10 foreign countries. He could have easily been nominated for CIA director. And Raphael Bostic, the first African American president of one of the 12 Federal Reserve regional banks, is certainly qualified to lead the Treasury Department. Biden ultimately decided to go with other, equally qualified choices for those two cabinet positions. But he did name a Black Treasury deputy. There was a little controversy over Biden’s decision for who to lead the Department of Agriculture (USDA), which has been accused of ignoring Black farmers’ pleas for federal assistance. Civil rights activists described Biden’s choice of Tom Vilsack, a white man who served in that same role under Obama, as a snub to Shirley Sherrod, the Black woman and former Agriculture employee who Vilsack fired under unfortunate circumstances. Sherrod, who served as the USDA’s Georgia Director of Rural Development, was fired after Vilsack viewed a nefariously edited 38-second video clip provided by Andrew Breitbart — for whom the racist, right-wing online news site is named — during an address she gave to the NAACP that was presented to seem like she refused federal assistance to a white farmer because of the color of his skin. The full, unedited video was later published showing that Sherrod actually told the audience she was able to use the encounter as a learning mechanism in the broader context of race relations and felt even more compelled to help the white farmer. Sherrod rebuffed offers from Vilsack and Obama to reinstate her employment in a role that was in a completely different capacity from the one she had been working. In was in that context that Biden still decided Vilsack was the best candidate for the job. With that said, Biden’s commitment to racial diversity is well documented. That has continued since his election, including with his transition team that is stacked with Black policy leaders. He’s also vowed to name a Black woman to be a Supreme Court Justice if he gets the chance. Could Biden have named Black folks? Of course. Did he leave Black folks hanging with his cabinet picks, though? That’s a question this writer cannot answer. But perhaps the below list of Black people shaping up to be a key part of Biden’s historic administration can.