Monday, February 29, 2016

The Faces of American Power, Nearly as White as the Oscar Nominees - Note for a lecture, "E Pluribus Unum? What Keeps the United States United"


New York Times
We reviewed 503 of the most powerful people in American culture, government, education and business, and found that just 44 are minorities. Any list of the powerful is subjective, but the people here have an outsize influence on the nation’s rules and culture.

Leaders of the Largest American Companies

After some years of progress, the diversity of the corporate elite has stalled in recent years, said Richard Zweigenhaft, a professor at Guilford College who studies executive diversity. “Once that barrier is broken, there may be a little less pressure to keep appointing people from that previous excluded category,” he said.
Minorities are highlighted in yellow.

The President and His Cabinet

Presidents Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton all had at least six minority cabinet members at some point in their terms.
Minorities are highlighted in yellow.

Presidents of Ivy League Universities

Just two minorities have ever been presidents of Ivy League institutions. In 2001, Brown University appointed the first African-American leader, Ruth Simmons. Eight years later, Dartmouth appointed the first Asian-American leader, Jim Yong Kim. Both officials have since left those posts.

U.S. Senators

In the history of the Senate, there have been just 12 Republican and 14 Democratic senators who were not white. Six of them are now in office. Two of the three Hispanic senators – Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas – are running for president.
Minorities are highlighted in yellow.

Hollywood Executives Who
Choose Which Movies Are Made

We selected studio executives who decide which movie ideas come to fruition. All are white, with the exception of Kevin Tsujihara, the chief executive of Warner Bros. Entertainment. Minorities are also underrepresented among directors, writers and actors.
Minorities are highlighted in yellow.

People Who Decide What
Music Gets Produced

Shown here are the top 20 people on Billboard’s Power 100 list. Except for Eddy Cue of Apple, who is Cuban-American, they are all white. The industry relies heavily on black talent, but few of the industry’s most elite decision makers are black.
Minorities are highlighted in yellow.

Mayors of America’s Largest Cities

The diversity of mayors in America’s 20 most populous cities is closer to that of the United States population than most of the other groups presented here.
Minorities are highlighted in yellow.

People Who Wield the Most Influence
Over Which Books Americans Read

There’s no single authority for identifying the most powerful people in publishing, but we selected 20 who are among the most influential in deciding which books get published, which ones break out and what Americans read. Among those included are publishing executives who say “yes” or “no” to book proposals, and powerful agents and celebrities who influence which books become best sellers.
recent survey of workers at publishing houses found that the industry remains overwhelmingly white. Nearly 90 percent of respondents identified themselves as white, and only 20 percent said strides had been made to diversity the work force.
Minorities are highlighted in yellow.

People Who Decide Which
Television Shows Americans See

The people pictured here are among the most powerful players in the television industry. The group is not exhaustive, but we included the top producers and executives at major networks and streaming services.Channing Dungey, head of ABC entertainment, became the first black network president in February.
Minorities are highlighted in yellow.

People Who Decide
What News Gets Covered

We selected top leaders of newspapers and networks who decide which stories to cover and how to do so. In 2014 Dean Baquet became the first black executive editor of The New York Times.
Minorities are highlighted in yellow.

United States Supreme Court Justices

Thurgood Marshall became the first African-American justice on the Supreme Court in 1967. When he retired in 1991, he was succeeded by Clarence Thomas, who is also African-American.
Minorities are highlighted in yellow.

American Governors

In 1989, L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia, a grandson of slaves, became the nation’s first African-American to be elected governor by popular vote. Most minority governors have held office in states with larger minority populations. New Mexico, which is 46 percent Hispanic, has elected six Hispanic governors, including its last two.
Minorities are highlighted in yellow.

America’s Top Military Advisers

In 1989, Gen. Colin L. Powell became the first African-American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He resigned in 1993.

Owners of Men’s Professional
Basketball Teams

About 75 percent of players are black, but Michael Jordan is the only black majority owner among the N.B.A.’s 30 teams. While teams often have multiple owners, we show the ones representing the teams at league meetings.
Minorities are highlighted in yellow.

Owners of Men’s Pro Football Teams

There isn’t a single black owner in the N.F.L., and only one who is a minority, even though 70 percent of players are black. With teams selling for well over $1 billion, only the ultra-wealthy find ownership within reach.
Minorities are highlighted in yellow.

Owners of Men’s Pro Baseball Teams

In more than a century of professional baseball, teams’ owners have mirrored the makeup of corporate America. Decades ago, newspaper publishers, beer barons and mining titans owned teams. These days, owners come from high finance and real estate.
Minorities are highlighted in yellow.
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Note: Race is given according to census definitions, which classify people from Europe, the Middle East and North Africa as white. 102 chief executives are shown. Oracle has two CEOs. After the Fortune 500 list was released, HP split into two companies, and both are shown. Oscar Munoz is on medical leave, but he is shown here instead of the acting chief executive. Six individuals appear in more than one category. Basketball, football and baseball teams often have multiple or corporate owners. The owners shown are the people chosen by the teams to represent them at league meetings, according to each league. The Green Bay Packers are owned by shareholders; their president and C.E.O., Mark Murphy, is shown.

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